President Donald Trump has repudiated efforts by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt to row back his foolish comments on Gaza.
At a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, Trump said he wanted to see Palestinians "permanently" relocated out of Gaza and the United States take a "long-term ownership interest" over the Gaza Strip. Refusing to rule out deploying U.S. military forces to secure control over the Palestinian territory, Trump further suggested that he might grant U.S. recognition of full Israeli sovereignty over the Palestinian West Bank.
Trump's ambitions lack either political or historic justification. If actively pursued, they would greatly fuel both violent jihadist mobilization and moderate Muslim antagonism against the U.S. Trump's plans would also require U.S. troops to engage in ground force combat operations against Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist organizations. Put simply, Trump's Gaza proposal runs dangerously counter to U.S. interests while being utterly at odds with the president's oft-stated pledge to avoid "stupid wars."
Appearing to recognize as much, Rubio and Leavitt attempted to row back Trump's comments on Wednesday. Leavitt said any Palestinian relocation out of Gaza would be temporary, and Rubio suggested that the relocation would only occur on an interim basis.
The president is having none of it. In a social media post on Thursday, Trump explained that his proposal would see Palestinians living in "new and modern homes, in the region. They would actually have a chance to be happy, safe, and free." He added that "The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting" and that "no soldiers by the U.S. would be needed!"
Forget about it.
Far fewer Palestinians want to leave Gaza than is suggested by some on the Right. And while the U.S. should exert pressure on its Arab allies to provide residency to Palestinians who wish to relocate out of Gaza or the West Bank, Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon and Jordan are notoriously miserable places. It would be one thing were Trump pursuing a massive international effort to support a post-Hamas governing structure in Gaza, one that finally redirected opportunity for Palestinians outside of Hamas's nihilistic death waltz. This agenda would serve Israeli security requirements alongside better Palestinian aspirations.
Instead, what Trump is suggesting is prima facie ethnic cleansing to make way for some kind of Las Vegas-style beach resort on the Mediterranean Sea. He is explicitly saying the U.S. should take ownership of Gaza so that the "people of the world," not Palestinians, can live in the territory under U.S. authority. Trump's rhetoric shows that he clearly sees Gaza through the prism of a business development opportunity.
Moreover, to effect Trump's plans, the U.S. would absolutely need to deploy Army and Marine Corps formations into Gaza alongside air, artillery, and other force enablers. That's because the U.S. would have to fight to clear Gaza's intensely dense urban environment, not just of terrorists deserving of death but of armed civilians attempting to defend their homes. And to be clear, such an effort wouldn't just implode U.S. diplomatic relations and moral authority across the globe. It would lead to mass violence against U.S. embassies and interests. Indeed, it would provide a jihadist propaganda cause the likes of which Osama bin Laden and Abu Bakr al Baghdadi could only dream of.
Saudi Arabia and the Sunni Arab monarchies, Egypt, and Jordan have all come out vehemently against this plan. Albeit more diplomatically, so also has just about every single U.S. ally from the United Kingdom to Australia. Hence why Netanyahu has offered only tentative support for Trump's statements. He cannot afford to oppose the president directly, fearing Trump's policy retaliation in other areas. But the prime minister knows this is silly stuff. The only support for Trump's plan appears to come from those who do not care for Palestinian interests whatsoever and from the hard-right Israeli settler movement, which wishes to occupy Gaza and the West Bank as part of a broader Israel.
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Trump should refocus on providing Israel with the means to further degrade Hamas's power and to variably negotiate the release or rescue of the remaining Israeli hostages.
The president's secondary focus should be on assisting Israel and the international community in establishing a postwar governing structure in Gaza that obstructs Hamas from the levers of power, provides for Israeli security interests, and incentivizes young Palestinians to pursue peaceful prosperity over the misplaced glory of murderous rampages.