Trump’s
Gaza proposal rejected by allies and condemned as ethnic cleansing plan
US president
has suggested Palestinians should leave Gaza for neighbouring countries to
‘just clean out’ whole strip
Emma
Graham-Harrison in Jerusalem
Sun 26 Jan
2025 20.02 CET
Donald
Trump’s proposal that large numbers of Palestinians should leave Gaza to “just
clean out” the whole strip has been rejected by US allies in the region and
attacked as dangerous, illegal and unworkable by lawyers and activists.
The US
president said he would like hundreds of thousands of people to move to
neighbouring countries, either “temporarily or could be long-term”.
Destinations could include Jordan, which already hosts more than 2.7 million
Palestinian refugees, and Egypt, he added.
“I’d rather
get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing at a different
location where they can maybe live in peace for a change,” Trump told reporters
on Air Force One. “You’re talking about probably a million and a half people,
and we just clean out that whole thing and say: ‘You know, it’s over.’”
Gaza’s
population before the war was 2.3 million. Jordan, and Egypt have both made
clear they will not take refugees from Gaza. On Sunday, the Jordanian foreign
minister, Ayman Safadi, said his country’s rejection of any displacement of
Palestinians was “firm and unwavering”.
Inside Gaza
there is little sign that people who have endured over 15 months of fighting
want to leave permanently in large numbers if a current ceasefire holds. Forced
displacement of residents would be a war crime.
On Sunday
thousands surged to Israeli military checkpoints, hoping to return to their
homes in the north under the terms of a temporary ceasefire deal. Israel
refused to let them pass, accusing Hamas of violating terms of the agreement.
“To ‘clean’
Gaza immediately after the war would in fact be a continuation of the war,
through the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people,” said Hassan Jabareen,
the director of Palestinian rights group Adalah.
There would
be little trust in any offer of temporary relocation outside Gaza to allow
reconstruction, given a history of repeated displacements starting with the
Nakba, or catastrophe, of 1948 in which about 700,000 Palestinians were
expelled from their homeland after the creation of Israel. At the time, many
thought they were just leaving temporarily, and for decades held on to the keys
for homes they hoped to reclaim.
Omer Shatz,
a lecturer in international law at Sciences Po Paris and international criminal
court (ICC) counsel, said Trump’s comments were a “call for ethnic cleansing”
that echoed calls from extremist Israeli politicians and public figures dating
to the start of the war.
“We are
witnessing an extremely dangerous but natural continuation of the
dehumanisation and genocidal calls that we have seen from the most extreme
voices inside Israel,” he said.
In December
Shatz detailed allegations of incitement to genocide by eight Israeli officials
and public figures in a landmark case filed with the ICC. “This is evidenced by
the fact that no one considers what the Gazans want, when they have barely
started clearing out the rubble, finding the remains of their loved ones buried
there,” he said.
The Council
on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) civil advocacy rights group said Trump’s
suggestion was “delusional and dangerous nonsense” in a statement that also
described it as a proposal for ethnic cleansing. “The Palestinian people are
not willing to abandon Gaza, and neighbouring countries are not willing to help
Israel ethnically cleanse Gaza,” it said.
Trump’s
comments were welcomed by far-right Israeli politicians. The finance minister,
Bezalel Smotrich, described the relocation of Palestinians as a “great idea”,
and said he would work with the prime minister and cabinet to create an
“operational plan for implementation” as soon as possible.
Despite the
stance of Smotrich and his allies, Trump’s suggestion went beyond current
Israeli government policy, with the military poised to allow Gaza residents to
return to homes in the north, said Prof Barak Medina, the chair in human rights
law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. It would also likely break
international law.
“If the plan
is to permanently relocate people, and especially if it is done by force, this
is not acceptable,” Medina said. “It will be clearly illegal but also
impractical: none of the neighbouring countries will be willing to accept
people that are expelled from their homeland. It also contradicts the stated
policy of the Israeli government.”
Before Trump
took office, an official from his transition team said the administration was
discussing relocating 2 million Palestinians during reconstruction if the
current tentative ceasefire held.
In apparent
tacit recognition of regional resistance to taking in more refugees, the
official said one possible destination under consideration was Indonesia.
Jakarta said it was not aware of any such plan.
Trump also
said he would raise the prospect of Egypt as a destination for Palestinians
from Gaza in a call scheduled with the president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi. However,
since the start of the war in 2023, Cairo has warned repeatedly against forced
displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, and reinforced its border. Sisi has
said any move to push Palestinians into Sinai would jeopardise relations with
Israel, including the 1979 peace treaty between the two countries.
Hamas
officials rejected Trump’s suggestion, saying people who survived the war would
not leave during peacetime, as did stranded Palestinians on the roads leading
to north Gaza. “If he thinks he will forcibly displace the Palestinian people
[then] this is impossible, impossible, impossible,” said Magdy Seidam. “The
Palestinian people firmly believe that this land is theirs, this soil is their
soil.”
Mustafa
Barghouti, a senior Palestinian politician, said he “completely rejected”
Trump’s comments, the Palestinian news agency Ma’an reported. Barghouti warned
against attempts at “ethnic cleansing” in Gaza, saying: “The Palestinian people
are committed to remaining in their homeland.”
Trump has
not laid out any vision for postwar governance in Gaza. While signing executive
orders after his inauguration, he had discussed the territory as a real-estate
prospect, praising its seaside location and weather. “I looked at a picture of
Gaza, it’s like a massive demolition site,” he said on Tuesday, adding: “It’s
gotta be rebuilt in a different way.”
Qatari
officials who mediated the pause in fighting in Gaza described “any plan that
would end with relocation or reoccupation” as a red line.
Trump’s new
administration has promised “unwavering support” for Israel, and key positions
have been taken by hardline supporters of its expansion. His ambassador to the
UN said in confirmation hearings that she considered Israel had a “biblical
right” to the West Bank, which Israel occupied in 1967 but most of the world
recognises as the heart of a future Palestinian state.
On Saturday
Trump said he had ordered the resumption of shipments of some of the largest
bombs to Israel, a widely expected move. Biden had paused delivery of the
2,000lb (907kg) bombs owing to concerns about civilian casualties in Gaza
caused by the powerful weapons, which can rip through thick concrete and metal
over a large area.
When asked
why he released the powerful bombs, Trump responded: “Because they bought
them.”
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