Getty ImagesThe Palestinian president said he is strongly rejecting President Donald Trump’s proposal to the United States to take over Gaza and resettle the 2.1 million Palestinians living there.
“We do not grant the rights of our citizens… we will not be violated,” stressed Mahmoud Abbas, saying that Gaza is a “essential part of the Palestinian state,” and forced displacement is a critical part of international law. He warned that it would be a violation.
Hamas, whose 15-month war with Israel caused widespread devastation, said Trump’s plans would “spray the fire” in the area.
The idea has been rejected by local countries such as Jordan and Egypt, and the United Nations has issued warnings against “ethnic cleansing in all forms.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that Gaza is an integral part of the future Palestinian state, and that at a meeting in New York, Palestinians are even more out of reach of their right to live as human beings. He spoke.
He said the world “sees the calm and systematic depersonalization of all people.”
Saudi Arabia said the Palestinians “not moving” from their lands and would not normalize relations with Israel without the establishment of a Palestinian state.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Trump’s proposal could “change history” and “worthy of attention.”
Later Wednesday, the White House tried to clarify President Trump’s proposal, with spokesman Caroline Leavitt pledging journalists to the president to commit to rebuild Gaza and to relocate its residents “temporarily” . Trump said Tuesday that the displacement was permanent.
She also said the president had not promised to send our troops to Gaza.
Trump’s comments come two weeks after the start of the fragile ceasefire in Gaza, during which Hamas released Israeli hostages he holds in Israeli prisons in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Israeli forces launched a campaign on October 7, 2023 to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack. Around 1,200 people were killed there and 251 were taken hostages.
More than 47,540 people have been killed and 111,600 have been injured in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamasran Health Ministry.
The majority of Gaza’s population is difficult to avoid, with nearly 70% of buildings being damaged or destroyed, medical, water, sanitation and sanitation systems being disrupted, and there is a shortage of food, fuel, medicines and shelter.
Trump’s first major statements on Middle Eastern policies have broken down our decades of decades considering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will work with it,” he told White House reporters Tuesday night.
“We own it and are responsible for dismantling any dangerous mis-explosive bombs and other weapons on the site, leveling out the site and removing any destroyed buildings.”
Trump said Palestinians living in Gaza must move to achieve their vision of creating a “Middle Eastern Riviera” and will be housed in Jordan, Egypt and other countries.
When asked if the refugees would eventually be allowed to return, he said that “people of the world” live in Gaza and that “Palestinians” would also be added.
Trump also sidelined previous objections from Jordanian and Egyptian leaders, taking refugees with him, claiming that “it will ultimately open your heart and give you the land you need to achieve this.” .
Netanyahu later said there was no problem with the idea of ”permitting Gazans to leave the territory”;
“They can leave, then they can come back and they can move and come back. But you have to rebuild Gaza,” he told Fox News on Wednesday. He spoke.
An unknown Sinieisrael official was quoted as saying Trump’s ideas outweigh all his “expectations and dreams.”
Bezalel Smotrich, the far-right Israeli finance minister, said the proposal was “the real answer for October 7th” and would pledge “crucially filling… the dangerous idea of the Palestinian state.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has characterized the plan as a “generous offer” to rebuild Gaza rather than a hostile takeover.
And Defense Secretary Pete Hegses praised Trump’s “outside the box” thinking, saying the Pentagon is “ready to see all the options” associated with the enclave.
The Palestinian leader denounced the plan in a statement issued Wednesday.
“These calls represent a serious violation of international law,” Abbas said, adding that “peace and stability will not be achieved in the region without the establishment of a Palestinian state.”
Abbas leads Hamas rival Fatah and governs parts of the West Bank under Israeli occupation.
He declared that the Palestinians “will not renounce their land, rights, or sacred places” and that the Gaza Strip is “an integral part of the lands of the Palestinian province, along with the West Bank and East Jerusalem.”
Husam Zomlot, head of Palestinian mission to the UK, told the BBC: Dangerous. “”
Hamas has been banned as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the US, the UK and other countries — said Trump “is aiming to have the US occupy the Gaza Strip.”
His proposal warned that “it is offensive to our people, the cause does not help the stability of the region, and it only adds oil to the fire.”
The Palestinians in Gaza also said the plan was completely out of the question.
“We endured a year and a half bombing and destruction, but we’ll stay in Gaza,” one man told BBC Arabic.
“We want to die in Gaza rather than leave it behind, and we will stay here until we rebuild it.
Palestinians also fear repeating “naqba” or “catastrophe” when hundreds of thousands fled or were forced out of their homes before and during the war following the creation of the Israeli state in 1948. .
Many of those refugees end up in Gaza, where they and their descendants make up three-quarters of the population. According to the United Nations, another 900,000 registered refugees live in the West Bank, while 3.4 million people live in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.
Israel retracted its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005, but retained control of shared borders, airspace and coastlines, effectively controlling the movement of people and goods.
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry said the kingdom “explicitly rejected” Trump’s proposal and would continue its efforts to establish an independent Palestinian state.
Egypt’s foreign minister said he agreed with the Palestinian authorities’ prime minister about the importance of Palestinians moving forward with the “early recovery project” without leaving Gaza.
Jordan’s King Abdullah said he refused to attempt to “annext or drive away the Palestinians,” but Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan would be absurd to consider relocating Palestinians from Gaza.” I mentioned.
The Western government has also expressed vigilance of forced displacements.
The French Foreign Ministry said it would refer to “a serious violation of international law,” an attack on Palestinian aspirations, and would represent “a major obstacle to the two states’ solutions.”
British Prime Minister Kielstama said Palestinians “have to go home.”
“They have to be allowed to rebuild and we should be with them on their way to a two-state solution,” he told Congress.
