Since January 26, US President Donald Trump has suggested multiple times a solution to the Israel-Hamas war: “just clean out” Gaza, moving the Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan. Then, on February 4, in a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, Trump proposed the US military invade and occupy Gaza to achieve this objective.
In a reversal of decades-long US policy against illegal forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank, Trump’s proposition received a resounding and immediate rejection in Cairo, Amman, and the Arab world. That unsurprising response highlights a core truth lost on Trump administration officials – namely that Palestine cannot be sidestepped in the search for Middle East peace.
Trump is known for his bombastic language, often utilized as a public negotiating tactic to achieve his policy objectives. This situation is no different, with the new president doubling down on his comments by adding “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; we just clean out that whole thing.” He also claimed that such an effort “could be temporary or long term.”
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