Events in the Middle East continue to be unpredictable, with Trump planning to expel the Palestinians from Gaza, which is putting a lot of pressure on the Arab world and has turned almost the entire world, even some EU states, against the US.
What is behind Trump’s bombastic announcements to make Gaza the “Riviera of the Middle East” and to deport the Palestinians to Arab countries? Is he serious, or is this another attempt to make a “deal” in which Trump wants to enter negotiations with high demands, only to give in here and there, but achieve more than was actually possible?
We should point out that this proposal by President Trump to turn Gaza into the Riviera of the Middle East, expelling the largest percentage of its population to neighboring countries to Gaza is not his. It was a plan that was initially developed during the Barack Obama administration together with the then Israeli government. The goal of the Plan was that in the small square kilometers that is the extent of Gaza, only 50,000 residents would live, specifically the administrative employees of the Palestinian state, and not the 2,080,000 residents that existed until yesterday. The remaining percentage of the Palestinian population would live in good houses but in neighboring Arab countries. In a simulation where countries like Italy and Greece have Italians and Greeks respectively living abroad and this population abroad is equal to or greater than the population living within their respective countries. Only in this way will the Israelis recognize the state of Palestine.
The proposal, today and as presented by the media, resembles the ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip, to transform Gaza into a luxurious “Middle Eastern Riviera”. The proposal shows the continued indifference to the lives and victims of the Palestinians, but it also confirms the deep-rooted support for the Zionist project in Washington political circles.
For 75 years, the Palestinians have resisted attempts to eradicate them from the territory of their historic homeland, their ancestral lands. Now, after 15 months of war, the resilience of the inhabitants of Gaza has forced Israel to recognize the new reality on the battlefield. Trump’s proposal aims to break this resistance by portraying ethnic cleansing as an investment opportunity and strengthening US-Israeli coordination at the expense of Arab states.
What is particularly worrying is that Trump is positioning himself as the architect of a comprehensive regional reorganization in which Middle Eastern states are stripped of any autonomy. His attempt to portray mass displacement as part of a “peace initiative” points to a broader strategy: To pressure Arab states to continue to abide by the 2020 “Abraham Accords” normalizing relations with Israel, while completely ignoring the Palestinian issue.
Even in the US itself, many have called Trump’s proposal to relocate two million people from Gaza a “crazy” idea. In both Jordan and Egypt, his shocking statement resonated with deafening voices, fueling fears of a forced displacement of Palestinians the likes of which has not been seen in decades. Saudi Arabia, which many believe will be the next country to normalize relations with Israel if Trump’s initiatives continue, strongly condemned Washington.
To Palestinians and much of the public, Trump’s plan appears to be an attempt to crush the Hamas resistance movement in the Gaza Strip, which, after 15 months of relentless war, has not only resisted the US-backed Israeli war machine but has imposed its own terms on a “day-after” scenario. Hamas emerged from the trenches with weapons raised, forcing the Israelis to recognize its strength.
Last week at the White House, Trump and Netanyahu spoke with remarkable indifference about the future of the Gaza Strip and its people. But even Netanyahu seemed taken aback by the radicalism of Trump’s vision for a US-led occupation of Palestinian territory.
The Arab world sees Trump’s portrayal of the situation in the Gaza Strip as nothing less than a blatant attempt to strip Middle Eastern states of their remaining political clout. Saudi Arabia, which has long struggled to maintain the appearance of commitment to a two-state solution, now finds itself in a situation where its diplomatic position has been completely undermined. Riyadh’s repeated statements that a Palestinian state is a condition for normalizing relations with Israel are increasingly at odds with those of the United States and Israel.
Trump has increased this pressure by saying that Saudi Arabia seeks peace with Israel without making Palestinian statehood a condition. Netanyahu quickly confirmed this statement with sarcasm, suggesting that the Saudis “can create a Palestinian state in Saudi Arabia. They have a lot of land there.” This US-Israeli complicity underscores a dangerous trend: the growing pressure on Saudi Arabia, which has so far resisted all US calls for normalization with Israel. Given its symbolic and strategic role in the Muslim world, Riyadh finds itself in a difficult dilemma, because normalizing relations with Israel without a Palestinian state could jeopardize the legitimacy of the House of Saud.
Meanwhile, economically weak Jordan is in an even less enviable position. Trump has named Jordan and Egypt as potential destinations for displaced Palestinians, triggering a flurry of diplomatic activity in the Cairo-Riyadh-Amman triangle. However, history shows that Arab diplomatic responses often come too late. An Arab “emergency summit” to resolve the crisis is scheduled for February 27, which can hardly be described as a hastily put together event. Cairo, fearful of Trump’s actions, has warned Washington, European allies and Israel that the 50-year-old Egypt-Israel peace treaty would be jeopardized if forced resettlement begins. Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi went even further, calling any attempt to resettle Palestinians “a declaration of war.”
Despite the tough rhetoric, however, both Cairo and Amman remain vulnerable. Trump’s ability to use financial aid as leverage could make Jordan even more dependent on Saudi Arabia. Egypt, already in an economic crisis, is facing a similar cash crunch.
Former Saudi intelligence chief Prince Turki Al-Faisal told CNN that he expects Arab and Muslim countries, as well as other nations, to raise the issue at the UN to show that the world rejects the “absurd plan of ethnic cleansing.” “It is a fantasy to believe that ethnic cleansing in the 21st century can be accepted by the international community, which sits back and does not react to it. The problem in Palestine is not the Palestinians. The problem is the Israeli occupation. And that is clear and understandable to everyone,” the former intelligence chief said, apparently in consultation with Saudi Arabia’s leader, Mohammed bin Salman.
Turk Al-Faisal went even further, writing an open letter to President Trump in the Emirati newspaper The National, stating: “Most of the residents of the Gaza Strip are refugees who were displaced from their homes in present-day Israel and the West Bank by Israel’s genocide in 1948 and 1967. If they are resettled from the Gaza Strip, they should be allowed to return to their homes and their orange and olive groves in Haifa, Jaffa and other cities and villages from which they fled or were forcibly expelled by the Israelis.”
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz wrote: “Until now, the countries of the Middle East have been categorized according to their geopolitical orientation: The moderate Sunni axis or the pro-American axis, the Shiite axis or the so-called Iranian axis of evil. Now Trump has introduced a new category: The ‘axis of fear.’ However, the newspaper predicts that Cairo and Amman could feel Trump’s wrath for their stance and that Saudi Arabia will not be able to truly support them.
Internationally, Trump’s proposal has met with widespread condemnation. From the UN to European capitals and Moscow, Beijing and the Global South, no one has supported the US president’s idea for Gaza. Tehran ridiculed the plan, suggesting that if Trump is so keen on displacing Palestinians in Arab countries, he could instead send Israelis to Greenland “to kill two birds with one stone,” referring to Trump’s plans to acquire territory from Denmark. Although Trump has tried to downplay the significance of his plan in the face of mounting criticism, calling it “non-urgent,” the damage has already been done. However, analysts believe that the Arab statements must be followed by bigger and more decisive measures. Arab states must go beyond simple diplomatic statements and find ways to counter the Trump-Netanyahu plan, which seeks to implement the ideas of the Zionist lobby, through coordinated engagement with Moscow, Beijing, and the Islamic world.
The Israeli defense minister has already ordered the military to draw up its own plan to “facilitate” Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip “voluntarily,” an attempt to portray ethnic cleansing as a humanitarian initiative. The killings of tens of thousands of children and civilians during the 15-month war were also apparently humanitarian initiatives.
Gaza is in ruins, destroyed by Netanyahu’s war machine, which is accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court. Instead of holding the Netanyahu government accountable, Trump is proposing a new chapter in the history of resettlement and normalization, a policy that realistically cannot be implemented, since, as Bismarck said: “Politics is the art of the possible.” And Trump, as a successful businessman, should know what is feasible and what is not in the Middle East.
