American and Israeli officials are approaching African countries about taking in two million Palestinians so the Gaza Strip can be developed into a “Riviera of the Middle East.”
This followed Donald Trump’s Feb. 15 suggestion that the warzone be vacated and turned into a major real estate development that America would own.
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The territory, the size of Detroit, is currently a refugee camp surrounded by rubble following Israel’s attacks against Gaza’s terrorist government in response to its Oct. 7, 2023 massacre.
Trump’s scheme is preposterous and has been condemned across the world. (Apparently, forcible displacement is a war crime under international law.) A couple of alternative schemes by Arab countries have come to light, but Israel doesn’t want to occupy the place once the fighting ends. Haaretz, Israeli’s oldest newspaper, ridiculed Trump’s idea: “Whether it’s an imperialist tantrum or an actual ‘out of the box’ initiative, there is really no way to endorse, refute or examine it.”
This is not Trump’s first attempt to “fix” the region. In his first term in 2020, he initiated the Abraham Accords, which were designed to normalize relations between Israel and several Arab states, including Muslim Sudan. He also proposed a peace plan that included a two-state solution for Palestinians but remained flexible. “I support whatever solution we can do to get peace. There are ideas other than two-state, but I support whatever is necessary to get peace, [but] a lasting peace. It can’t go on where every five years you end up in tragedy. There are other alternatives,” he said.
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Then, in 2024, following Israel’s brutal war with terrorists, Trump issued an executive order on his first day in office lifting sanctions against violent Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank. In February, he pitched this Gaza scheme, which was called “imaginary” by Lebanon’s leader but welcomed as divine intervention by right-wing leaders such as Israeli Minister Idit Silman: “God has sent us the US administration, and it is clearly telling us – it’s time to inherit the land.”
Arab states, European nations, Turkey, China, and Palestinian leaders rejected the idea of displacing Palestinians. Trump designated Egypt and Jordan as permanent destinations for these refugees, but each immediately balked. He then threatened to stop aid to neighboring countries if they refused to accept the influx, then backed off. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Trump’s idea “revolutionary” and “bold.” He established a “voluntary emigration” department to scout for alternative refugee destinations. The Americans have also put out feelers, but neither has found a country willing to accept two million impoverished people.
On March 5, an alternative proposal, put forth by Egypt, proposed to spend $53 billion to rebuild Gaza but to keep Palestinians there. The two-year plan would build temporary housing, remove the rubble, repair infrastructure, and be paid for by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. Palestinians would do the rebuilding for Palestinians, but there were no details as to how to expel Hamas militants, only a vague promise of “a credible political process that restores Palestinian rights.” That was why the idea was dead on arrival in Washington and in Tel Aviv, where Israel’s Foreign Ministry said Hamas cannot remain in power, nor can the corrupt Palestinian Authority.
Egypt also proposed a governance “solution,” which was to keep Palestinians in place and form a committee of technocrats drawn from across Gaza to administer the enclave. Palestinians trained by Arab forces would provide security. Egypt also wanted to separate out the question of Palestinian statehood and put it on a different track from the effort to rebuild Gaza.
It hoped to convene a donor conference to raise funds. Still, others have pointed out that Gaza has an offshore claim to natural gas reserves of 1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, enough to power the Palestinian territories with additional potential to export. That resource could help sustain the place.
Sudan, Somalia and Somaliland, plus Libya, have been targeted as possible host countries
In the absence of a solution, the US and Israel have held meetings with countries to take in Palestinians. Western nations, already inundated with displaced and radicalized persons, have no appetite to accept the Palestinians or any large influx of migrants. So far, Israeli officials have sounded out the governments of Somalia and Sudan, but these countries are uninterested and wracked with civil war, poverty, and religious radicalism. Libya has been targeted but not yet contacted. But all three are members of the Arab league, which rejects displacement. A Somali official told the Financial Times: “Gaza belongs to Palestinians, and it will remain for Palestinians. Somalia’s position on this is well recorded.”
According to the Financial Times, American diplomats also met with leaders of the breakaway province of Somaliland. The region is still part of Somalia, and the possibility of US recognition of its sovereignty is being offered in return for permission to build a military base on the Red Sea and to host the refugees. But Somaliland’s government is concerned the Gazan refugees could destabilize its state and “strengthen the hand of its Islamist hardliners.”
Tragically, making Gaza habitable is only one challenge among many in a region that now resembles post-war Europe. Millions have died or are in refugee camps. Economics have been wiped out. National currencies are worthless, and Gaza, plus much of Lebanon and Syria, have been flattened. One estimate is that removing the rubble and wreckage would take a decade, but the oil-rich Arabs are staggeringly wealthy and should defray costs. And Iran, with its terrorist organizations, must and can be defeated. Foreign Affairs published estimates of the cost of a Middle East Marshall Plan: “The World Bank and UN organizations have estimated that rebuilding the Middle East and providing enough humanitarian aid will cost between $350 and $650 billion. The UN Development Program has estimated that at least $40 to $50 billion is needed to rebuild Gaza alone.”
Meanwhile, Trump, the isolationist, finds himself in another war, like Ukraine’s, involving immutable problems, catastrophic outcomes, and tangled politics. He’s promised to stop both wars, but efforts so far have done little, including the ultimatums he’s issued. Putin just snubbed his truce and peace talks proposal in Ukraine despite threats of American sanctions and a flood of weapons and ammo to Ukraine. On March 6, he issued an ultimatum to Hamas to release all hostages or Mar-A-Gaza “or it’s over for you.” If Hamas released the hostages, then the US would work to end the war permanently. It, too, was ignored.
Trump will learn business solutions won’t solve intractable, cultural, religious, and ideological conflicts. He also must take sides. Russia and Iran stoke both wars, but he has yet to threaten either directly. At the same time, his flamboyant marketing and fantastical remarks replace politesse and diplomacy, causing blowback. For instance, the day after his Gaza re-do was announced, he posted on Truth Social a fake video of Gaza as a down-market gaming destination, complete with a gold-plated statue of himself.
Arabs and Muslims in the United States and abroad condemned the video. They have also been upset that he believes Palestinians should be relocated and have no right of return. “No, they wouldn’t because they’re going to have much better housing,” he told Fox News. “I’m talking about building a permanent place for them.” He promised to build “beautiful communities” for them. “Could be five, six, could be two. But we’ll build safe communities, a little bit away from where they are, where all this danger is. In the meantime, I would own this. Think of it as a real estate development for the future. It would be a beautiful piece of land. No big money spent.”
In a word, it’s nuts.
Reprinted from [email protected] – Diane Francis on America and the World.
The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.
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