Trump Revives Biden’s Failed Proposal To Remove Palestinians From Gaza
President Donald Trump’s envoy brokered a ceasefire in Gaza and a prisoner exchange that is bringing Israeli hostages home. Now Trump is considering emptying the territory of its Palestinian population.
“I’d like Egypt to take people, and I’d like Jordan to take people. You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing,” Trump told reporters on Sunday. “It is literally a demolition site right now, almost everything is demolished and people are dying there.”
He added that Palestinians could be moved “temporarily or could be long term.”
The plan to empty Gaza of Palestinians—while insisting that it’s a temporary measure for their own good—is an eerie echo of former President Joe Biden’s approach to the region. In the first few days of the war, the Biden administration tried to push Egypt to accept a mass exodus of Palestinians. Bringing up that possibility again, now that the bombs have stopped dropping, is seen by both Arab and Israeli figures as an attempt to restart the war.
The Egyptian government released a statement on Sunday rejecting “the transfer of uprooting of Palestinians from their land, whether in a temporary or long term way, which threatens stability and heralds the extension of the conflict.” Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi also told reporters on Sunday that “Jordan is for Jordanians, and Palestine for Palestinians….Our rejection of displacement is unwavering.”
It’s telling that former Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who initially called Trump’s ceasefire a “national humiliation” and resigned from the government to protest it, is now praising Trump’s openness to empty Gaza.
Ben Gvir wrote on Monday that images of Palestinians returning home after the ceasefire are “another humiliating part of the reckless deal….The heroic Israel Defense Force soldiers did not fight and give their lives in the Strip to make these images possible. We must return to war—and to destruction!”
Ben Gvir’s faction has long wanted to expel Palestinians to other Arab countries, even before the war that began with Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attacks.
After those attacks, the Biden administration called for open “humanitarian corridors” for Palestinians to leave for Egypt’s Sinai Desert, while insisting that it did not want a permanent expulsion.
“We believe that people should be able to stay in Gaza, their home,” then–Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters on October 15, 2023. “But we also want to make sure that they’re out of harm’s way and that they’re getting the assistance they need.”
Blinken’s suggestion may have come with a serious financial offer behind closed doors. On October 14, 2023, The Economist alluded to diplomatic discussions about paying off Egypt’s debt in exchange for taking in refugees. That following day, the independent Egyptian news outlet Mada Masr reported that Egypt was “coming under pressure from western countries who are al
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