Israel’s destruction of the West Bank and the consequences for Israel and the United Arab Emirates of a Palestinian Reconstruction Scenario in the First Five-year War between Israel and Hamas
A similar scenario played out in Trump’s first term: Netanyahu declared Israel would annex parts of the West Bank under Trump’s Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, then tabled annexation in exchange for a Trump-brokered deal for diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
It is hard to exaggerate the traumatic impact of population transfers in Palestinian memory. This history helps explain the Palestinian determination to remain in the newly devastated territory and the widespread outcry to this relocation proposal and its long-term radicalizing potential.
Netanyahu is the first foreign leader to meet with President Trump since he was sworn in last month, a point that Trump emphasized by describing an “unbreakable” bond between them.
“We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site,” Trump said as Netanyahu looked on. “Level the site, and get rid of the destroyed buildings. Level it out, create an economic development.”
Asked who he envisions living in a U.S.-remade Gaza, Trump said, “I envision the world people living there. The world is made of people. I think you’ll make it a place that’s international and unbelievable.
Trump did not share details how he anticipated the U.S. would take control of the strip, but during the press conference, also didn’t rule out sending U.S. troops to support the reconstruction.
When it was time to speak, Netanyahu smiled and praised Trump’s work on behalf of Israel. Trump has an idea that Netanyahu wants to pay attention to.
Netanyahu’s visit comes amid negotiations over the second phase of a truce between Israel and Hamas. Phase 1 of the deal focused on the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners.
The administration’s focus is on making sure that Phase 1 is completed and the hostages are returned home, according to officials. They say Phase 2 would end the war with Hamas and return all remaining Israeli hostages from captivity in Gaza.
But Trump’s envoy said Phase 3 of the ceasefire deal — reconstruction of Gaza — would get complicated because it’s “physically impossible” to rebuild the area in five years. The war damage to Gaza made a 10- to 15-year timeline more likely.
“You have to learn from history. History is – you just can’t let it keep repeating itself. We have an opportunity to do something that could be phenomenal,” Trump said.
On Tuesday, Trump signed two executive orders related to the Middle East. One puts the greatest amount of pressure on Iran. Trump was torn about signing it.
“I’m signing, but I’m unhappy to do it.” but I have not so much choice because we have to be strong and firm,” Trump said, and added that he hopes he doesn’t have to use it.
“To me, it’s very simple. “Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon,” Donald Trump said. He said the U.S. has the right to block the sale of Iranian oil to other countries.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert: Trump’s ‘takeover’ of the Gaza Strip, and what does it mean?
The other order pulled the U.S. out of the United Nations Human Rights Council and cut off aid to the United Nations Relief Works Agency, which is the main group providing aid to Palestinians.
TEL AVIV, Israel — President Trump floated two bombshell ideas Tuesday about Gaza that has Palestinians, Israelis, and the wider Middle East scrambling.
The first is that the US would take over the territory. In a White House press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said the US will take over the Gaza Strip. “We’ll own it … We have the chance to do something amazing. the Riviera of the Middle East.”
Ehud Olmert told NPR that on the day that he sees many American soldiers in Gaza, he’ll make a decision about how serious the situation is. “Israel is the only party that is against it.”
“It is utterly unrealistic, and it reflects a total lack of understanding of the historical process of where these Palestinians come from, what is their collective identity,” former Israeli foreign minister Shlomo Ben-Ami told NPR. “ It’s somebody that came from the outer space and tries to impose a solution which is, you know, detached from a context.”
In Israel, a tactic known as putting in a goat is believed to be used by Trump in order to get a concession from the other side.
“This man is an actor in a global theater, and this has been his tactics, playing big, drawing the world’s attention to what he says, getting his rivals out of balance, and eventually something will happen that goes his way,” Ben-Ami said. “Perhaps this is a sort of tactical tactic that tries to say a big thing in order to eventually get a more modest solution.”
The Israeli View of a “Transfer of Non-Jewish People to Israel” and the Role of the “Friday” Regime
Whether or not it is a viable vision, the once-fringe Israeli idea of “transfer” — expelling or encouraging the emigration of Palestinians to other countries so Israel can take over their land — has quickly moved further into the Israeli mainstream with Trump’s comments in recent weeks about relocating Gazans.
In a poll published Monday, about seven out of ten Israelis supported the idea, with most Jewish Israelis polled calling it a “practical plan that should be pursued.” Most Arab citizens of Israel polled opposed the idea in the survey, conducted by the Jewish People Policy Institute think tank in Jerusalem.
In a statement released by the militant group early Wednesday, Hamas called on Trump to retract his “irresponsible statements,” saying that they would “pour oil on the fire.”
The proposal was rejected by the Palestinian leadership which hopes to join the ruling of postwar Gaza. The rights of the people will not be allowed to be interfered with, said the Palestinian Authority President.
The Foreign Ministry of Saudi Arabia issued a statement after the press conference in which it said that its stance on establishing a Palestinian state was “firm and steadfast.”
Some have returned to Gaza’s south, where humanitarian aid and services are more plentiful. Some are in the rubble in tents while others are in the remains of homes.
“Even if there was a place that was a million times better than Gaza, and even if I could be sure that life there would be luxurious, I would still be ready to live among the rubble and in tents here,” he says. “If they come with the army, with military force, I will still never leave.”
During Israel’s heavy bombardment on the enclave, a surgeon at the hospital refused to leave the north and would also refuse Trump’s proposal.
“This is my homeland and I have no intention to leave even if Trump provides me with the best of everything somewhere else,” Ghonaim says, noting that he would not abandon the graves of his family killed during the war. He said his children were also killed and remain buried under rubble.
Anas Baba in Gaza City, Gaza, Nuha Musleh in Ramallah, West Bank, Itay Stern in Tel Aviv, Israel, Yanal Jabarin in Jerusalem, Abu Bakr Bashir in London and Ahmed Abuhamda in Cairo contributed to this report.
For decades, the question of whether or not the Palestinians could build a state in their homeland has dominated Middle East politics, and for many Arabs around the region, almost as their own.
That refusal has been backed up by political independents and opposition figures in Egypt, along with mouthpieces for the country’s authoritarian government, underscoring how the Palestinian issue can unify even the bitterest political opponents there.
Khaled el-Balshy, the editor of one of the few remaining Egyptian media outlets that are not pro-government and the head of the national journalists’ union, issued a statement on Wednesday calling Mr. Trump’s proposal “a clear violation of human rights and international laws.”
Moustafa Bakry, a loudly pro-government member of Parliament, suggested, without giving specifics, that Egypt could repel the displacement with force. “Egypt can move forward with other measures, because the Egyptian military can never allow this,” he said in an interview on Wednesday.
It is possible that the president will bend to his will when he presses ahead with his proposal. Egypt and Jordan are among the top recipients of American military aid; Mr. Trump has mentioned the funding in recent weeks, without publicly threatening to pull it over the Gaza issue. The government of Egypt is dependent on loans from the International Monetary Fund in order to survive.
The United States gives money to Egypt and Jordan because they are the first Arab countries to sign peace treaties with Israel. The United States brokered those agreements after years of conflict, seeing them as key to the security of Israel. The arrangements have long been viewed as foundational to Middle East stability.
Egypt is worried that Hamas, the group that controls Gaza, could try to spread its influence in Egypt. Cairo has spent years trying to quash political Islamism and an insurgency at home.
Analysts say the incentive to keep U.S. aid is minimal compared to the fear of alienating their populations by being involved in ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. Though the rulers of both countries frequently brook little dissent, often using repression to silence internal criticism, analysts say they cannot afford to ignore public opinion.
Paul Salem, a vice president of the Middle East Institute in Washington, said it was “no joke” going up against Trump. But since “this would really be a bridge way too far for much of public opinion,” he added, “there is no other option for an Arab leader. I don’t see what else they could do.”
For President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, the issue is particularly sensitive because he has tried to rally public support by painting himself as a champion of the Palestinians. Popular discontent over rampant inflation and government mismanagement had been growing before the war in Gaza began in October 2023, which allowed Mr. el-Sisi to regain some popularity with strong denunciations of Israel and promises to stand by the Palestinians.
But the shine wore off as the war went on and Egyptian social media swirled with reports of signs that Egypt’s leaders was cooperating with Israel. The government has arrested dozens of Egyptians who were protesting Israeli actions.
Egyptian pro-government media frequently trumpets Egypt’s role in delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, and pro-government politicians lavish praise on the president for personally brokering the cease-fire agreement. (Egypt served as one of the mediators on the deal, along with Qatar and the United States.)
The Egyptian analyst Maged Mandour said allowing Palestinian displacement into Egypt would ruin the narrative of defending the country.
Egyptian officials see the chance of Palestinians flooding into the country as a serious security threat. Some officials think that members of militant groups among the forcibly displaced Palestinians could stage attacks at Israel from Egyptian soil in order to get Israeli military retaliation.
Far-right Israelis have long talked of Jordan as the place where Palestinians forced out of Gaza and the West Bank should make their homes, raising fears in Jordan that if people from Gaza are forced out, Israel would next turn to the West Bank.
Analysts said that Israel’s hard-line government appeared so confident that it would be supported by the U.S., that it could undermine relations with its neighbors.
But relying on U.S. backing to push through its ambitions over the strenuous objections of its neighbors will not be sustainable in the long run, said H.A. Hellyer, a senior fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London and the Center for American Progress in Washington. He believes that the only way for the Israelis to have long-term, sustainable security is if they integrate into the region.
Some experts, including ones close to the Egyptian government, held out hope that Mr. Trump would change his mind when negotiations started.
As a businessman, “he will withdraw when it does not work out,” predicted Samir Farag, a former Egyptian military officer who often comments on Egyptian security affairs in pro-government outlets, in an interview on Wednesday.
Reply to “Comment on ‘A Palestinian-Israeli displacement plan for a new dynamo'” by S.E. Hellyer
But Mr. Hellyer said that the rhetoric from some people close to Mr. Trump who back the displacement plan and emphasize that even the West Bank should be considered Jewish land would make Arabs regard any Trump plan with extreme suspicion.
A limited version of the plan might be acceptable to Egypt and Jordan, but he said it was not possible because of the way the whole thing is being framed.
