US President Donald Trump has said the Gaza Strip will be “taken over” and “taken over” after Palestinians are resettled elsewhere under an extraordinary redevelopment plan. He said the area could be turned into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.
In a shock announcement ending decades of US policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Trump said on Tuesday that his administration would lead the economic development of the territory to “provide unlimited jobs and housing for the people of the region”.
“The United States will occupy the Gaza Strip and we will do the job.” “We will own it,” Trump said at the White House after talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, adding that his administration would be responsible for clearing destroyed buildings and dismantling “dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons.”
Hamas, the Palestinian group that controls Gaza, quickly denounced the proposal as “a recipe for chaos and tension in the region.”
“Our people in Gaza will not allow these plans to pass,” the group said in a statement.
“What is needed is an end to the occupation and aggression against our people, not to drive them from their land. Our people in Gaza have been bombed for over 15 months and have been thwarted by displacement and deportation plans.”
In his statement, Trump suggested that the United States would take a “long-term ownership position” in the area.
“This is not a decision that was taken lightly. Everyone I’ve talked to likes the idea of the United States owning that land, and it’s a great thing to develop and create thousands of jobs,” he said.
While offering few specifics on how his plan would be implemented, Trump expressed hope that Palestinians displaced in Gaza would “go to other interested countries that have humanitarian hearts,” but suggested that Palestinians would continue to live there.
The US president said that Gaza could be home to “people of the world.”
“I think you’re going to make it an international, incredible place. I think the potential of Gaza is incredible. The whole world – representatives from all over the world will be there and they’ll be living there. Palestinians will be living there too,” he said.
“A lot of people will be living there.”
Asked if he could send US soldiers to Gaza to maintain security, Trump said it was a possibility.
“When it comes to Gaza, we will do what is necessary. If necessary, we will do it,” he said.
Netanyahu, who praised Trump as Israel’s “greatest friend,” said the US president’s plan was “worthy of attention” and “could change history.”
“He sees a different future for that land that has been subjected to so much terrorism, so many attacks against us, so many trials, so much suffering,” Netanyahu said.
Trump’s announcement was widely condemned by Palestinian advocates.
“He’s basically saying that, officially, the US policy is now to destroy Palestinian society, disperse Palestinians to neighboring countries, and on top of that, the US will come and occupy Palestinian land indefinitely,” political analyst and human rights advocate Omar Baddar told Al Jazeera.
“I don’t know what planet we’re living on, coming from the US president.”
Abed Ayoub, executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), described Trump’s proposal as “dangerous” and “crazy.”
“It would go against all norms and international law. This is not something that should be allowed to happen,” Ayoub told Al Jazeera.
“But at this point, if you look at the past year and a half, you have to ask yourself: How does the international community, including Israel, really care about international law and norms?”
Ahmad Fouad Alkhatib, a Palestinian-American resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, said the Gaza Strip is not “a real estate development project for the U.S. government to own or acquire.”