President Donald Trump reportedly wants to “clean out” the Gaza Strip amid the war between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas.
The president’s objective is to persuade Jordan and Egypt to take in refugees from the war. However, the governments of these countries have been resistant to such an idea, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The president said he told King Abdullah II of Jordan in a phone call on Saturday that he wants the monarch’s country to receive Palestinians. He said he expected to make a similar request of Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, in a coming phone call.
“You’re talking about a million and half people, and we just clean out that whole thing,” the president told reporters on Air Force One on Saturday. “You know over the centuries it’s had many, many conflicts. And I don’t know, something has to happen.”
The comments and other recent moves by his administration reflect a sharp change in policy toward the conflict in Gaza compared with under former President Joe Biden.
This comes just after Trump announced on Saturday that his administration would deliver 2,000-pound bombs to Israel as it continues efforts to eliminate Hamas. The bombs had previously been held up by the Biden administration.
Egypt’s government released a statement rejecting the idea, arguing that it could cause the conflict to spread into its nation.
The issue of Palestinians leaving Gaza has been politically sensitive. Many Palestinians fear if they leave the enclave, Israel will never allow them to return. There are several million Palestinian refugees, scattered mostly in Arab countries since Israel’s founding in 1948, and their future has been at the heart of the conflict.
Egypt and Jordan so far have rejected the idea of taking in Palestinians from Gaza, fearing a flood of refugees could destabilize their own countries. Leaders of both countries have said they want Gazans to be able to stay in the enclave. The Biden administration also advocated keeping Gazans inside the strip.
The president indicated that he has discussed this idea with King Abdullah of Jordan and Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, president of Egypt.
However, there are other objections these leaders have raised, according to The Financial Times.
The two countries have weak economies and need US support but their leaders would not want to be seen to be complicit in what Arab public opinion would consider a second “Nakba” or catastrophe — the exodus to neighbouring countries of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees in 1948 when the state of Israel was founded.
“It would outrage Arabs because the historical record is very clear; every time Palestinians have been forced to leave part of Palestine, they never went back,” said Hellyer. “Emptying Gaza of its inhabitants would not have any support from the Arabs, or even internationally, because it is the definition of ethnic cleansing.”
Palestinian leaders have rejected the idea as well. The Palestinian Authority (PA) on Sunday issued a statement saying the idea “constitutes a blatant violation of the red lines we have consistently warned against.”
One Palestinian civilian said it is “impossible for people to accept this” and that some “might leave because of the suffering they have endured, but the idea of us leaving our country…it’s absolutely impossible.”
Meanwhile, the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas is still in effect for now.
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