As Israel and Hamas figure out a ceasefire deal for Gaza, President Donald Trump has been conspiring a plan to buy Gaza and transform it into his own middle eastern Mar-A-Lago.
In a White House press conference on Feb. 5, Trump stated, “The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too. We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings, level it out.” This is just one of his “concepts of a plan” he talked about while campaigning for president.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been ongoing for decades. The conflict has led to Palestinian displacement, the creation of terrorist organizations and an ongoing battle over whether Palestine should be recognized as its own state. Since the Oct. 7 attacks, Palestinians living in Gaza have had their homes and businesses bombed and been forced to evacuate. Since those attacks, 90% of the Palestinian population has been displaced.
Recently, Palestinians have been allowed to return to their land, most of which was destroyed and left in shambles by the Israeli government.
Now, the U.S. president has announced his plan to buy Gaza and make it into a new place. With this new plan, he has announced the potential of economic and business opportunities, none of which include the actual natives of the land. Instead, he wants neighboring states, like Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, to take in the Palestinians he wants to displace. Trump thought the Palestinians would rejoice in having to find a new place to rebuild their entire life after the U.S, more specifically President Joe Biden and his former administration sent $310 billion dollars to Israel for their military and missile defense needs. In Trump’s sick and twisted business brain, this idea of the U.S. buying Gaza and wasting billions of dollars to build economic opportunity in a region that does not concern him at all seems like a bright idea.
In his announcement of a plan to buy Gaza, many in the Republican Party were shocked, Democrats were confused and Palestinians listened in fear. After announcing to the world that he would make yet another unintelligent international decision without consulting anyone about it, his cabinet members processed the information and then happily agreed. Former Trump administration members, like David Friedman, who was the Ambassador to Israel in his first term, said it was a “brilliant” idea and one that would end the Israel-Palestine conflict that has plagued them since the mid-twentieth century.
This new plan announced by Trump will bring more political conflict and rebellion, much more than has already been seen. The fact that many far-right politicians have started to root for this plan is terrifying. Hope that this plan is just another one of his irrational tirades and not something that he and his billion-dollar bootlickers act on. Until there is more information, it is important to support and rally with Palestinians who continue to live in fear every day.
