Palestinians, their allies and other nations reacted strongly to President Donald Trump’s proposal that the United States “take over” the Gaza Strip and permanently resettle its residents.
Trump’s suggestion came at a White House news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who smiled several times as the president detailed a plan to build new settlements for Palestinians outside the Gaza Strip, and for the U.S. to take “ownership” in redeveloping the war-torn territory into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”
“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too,” Trump said. “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, create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs.”
His remarks drew swift opposition from allies and adversaries alike.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called for the United Nations to “protect the Palestinian people and their inalienable rights,” saying that what Trump wanted to do would be “a serious violation of international law.”
___
Here’s the latest:
Netanyahu praises Trump in interview on Fox News
WASHINGTON — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again praised U.S. President Donald Trump’s idea for rebuilding Gaza after Arab nations slammed the concept.
“This is the first good idea that I’ve heard,” Netanyahu said in an interview Wednesday with Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity. “It’s a remarkable idea and I think it should be really pursued. Examined, pursued and done, because I think it will create a different future for everyone.”
After American allies and Republican lawmakers rebuffed Trump’s suggestions that the U.S. take “ownership” of Gaza and “permanently” resettle Palestinians, Trump’s top diplomat and spokesperson walked them back a bit. Netanyahu followed suit, describing a voluntary and temporary relocation.
“The actual idea of allowing Gazans who want to leave to leave, I mean, what’s wrong with that?” Netanyahu told Hannity. “They can leave. They can then come back. They can relocate and come back. But you have to rebuild Gaza.”
Malaysia’s government says it strongly opposes any plan involving forced displacement of Palestinians
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysia’s government said Thursday it strongly opposed any plan that could lead to the forced displacement of Palestinian people, condemning such actions as violating international laws.
The foreign ministry warned in a statement that “any unilateral solution disregarding Palestinian self-determination is unacceptable and will only prolong the conflict.” The statement didn’t name any country but was a clear reference to U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to resettle Palestinian refugees outside the war-torn territory.
Predominantly Muslim Malaysia, a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause, said it remained committed to the establishment of an independent and sovereign state of Palestine based on pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
“Malaysia also urges the international community to support the two-state solution and calls for Palestine’s full membership in the United Nations,” it said
Palestinian UN ambassador welcomes global opposition to Trump’s Gaza proposal
UNITED NATIONS – The Palestinian U.N. ambassador welcomed widespread global opposition to U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to move all Palestinians out of Gaza and said plans are moving ahead for an international conference in June focused on ending Israel’s occupation of Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
Riyad Mansour told a long-planned meeting of the General Assembly committee promoting Palestinian human rights that the Gaza Strip is “a very precious component” of the Palestinian homeland which the people love and will rebuild.
“This is our answer for those who want to kick us out of the Gaza Strip: There is no power on earth that can remove the Palestinian people from our ancestral homeland, including Gaza,” he said.
Mansour referred to a previous expulsion — in 1948 when some 700,000 Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes before and during the Arab-Israel war that followed Israel’s establishment.
“For those who want us to have a happy place and safe place, we will be delighted to return to our homes inside the state of Israel,” he said. “This is where we originally were kicked (out) from. If they want to do that for us, we will welcome it, but short of that, Gaza is part of the state of Palestine.”
Mansour invited all 193 U.N. member nations to attend the June conference at the United Nations, co-hosted by Saudi Arabia and France, to accomplish the objective of the U.N.’s highest court, the International Court of Justice. It ruled last July that Israel’s prolonged occupation of the Palestinian territories is illegal and has to be terminated as quickly as possible.
U.N. chief says only a two-state solution can bring stability to the Middle East
UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations chief believes U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to move all Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip would be “ethnic cleaning,” and says only a two-state solution can bring stability to the Middle East.
Without mentioning Trump, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told a long-planned meeting of the General Assembly committee supporting Palestinian rights on Wednesday that “in the search for solutions, we must not make the problem worse.”
“It is vital to stay true to the bedrock of international law,” he said. “It is essential to avoid any form of ethnic cleansing.”
U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric was asked earlier Wednesday if the secretary-general believes Trump’s plan for the U.S. to clean out and take over Gaza is ethnic cleansing. “Any forced displacement of people is tantamount to ethnic cleansing,” he replied.
Guterres stressed that any lasting peace will require an end to Israeli occupation of Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem, and progress toward a two-state solution where Israel and “a viable, sovereign Palestinian state” live side-by-side in peace and security.
The secretary-general also reiterated that nothing justifies Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks in southern Israel.
But he also pointed to the “chilling, systematic, dehumanization and demonization” of the entire Palestinian people, and “the catalogue of destruction and unspeakable horrors” in Gaza.
Guterres welcomed the current ceasefire and release of some hostages in Gaza and urged the international community to keep pushing for a permanent ceasefire and the release of all hostages taken on Oct. 7.
“We cannot go back to more death and destruction,” he said.
Macron invites Syria’s interim leader to visit France
DAMASCUS — French President Emmanuel Macron congratulated Syria’s newly installed interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa in a phone call Wednesday and invited him to visit France “in the coming weeks,” al-Sharaa’s office said in a statement.
The visit would mark a major step in the new Syrian government’s relations with Western countries after the fall of former President Bashar Assad in a lightning rebel offensive led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
Macron “stressed his country’s efforts to lift sanctions on Syria and pave the way for growth and recovery,” the statement said.
European Union foreign ministers last month agreed to begin lifting sanctions on Syria that had been imposed beginning in 2011 in response to Bashar Assad’s crackdown on protesters, which festered into a civil war.
Israel won’t participate in the top U.N. human rights body
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel’s foreign minister said Wednesday the country “will not participate” in the U.N.’s top human rights body, a day after President Donald Trump said the U.S. was withdrawing from the body.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar announced the move in a post on X and welcomed Trump’s decision. Israel is not a member of the council and in the past has limited its engagement with the U.N. Human Rights Council over what it says is the body’s bias against it.
Israel previously announced it would not participate in the UNHRC in 2018, following Trump’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from it.
Israel has long criticized the council for disproportionately targeting it with resolutions and condemnations.
“The U.N. Human Rights Council is a biased body that is obsessively focused on attacking Israel,” Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said.
Danon also accused the council of long ago abandoning “its moral compass” and said its election of Iran to leadership positions “proves the moral failure of this institution.”
Rubio says Trump’s proposal for Gaza was a ‘generous’ offer
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that President Donald Trump’s proposal to take “ownership” of Gaza and redevelop the area into “the Riviera of the Middle East” was a “generous” offer.
“It was not meant as a hostile move,” Rubio told journalists at a press conference while visiting Guatemala City. “It was meant as a, I think, a very generous move.”
He said it is “akin to a natural disaster” and people can’t live there because there are unexploded munitions, debris and rubble.
“In the interim, obviously people are going to have to live somewhere while you’re rebuilding it,” the top diplomat said.
Germany’s president says Trump’s proposal is unacceptable under international law
ANKARA, Turkey — German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that proposals for the deportation of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip were causing grave concerns in the region and were unacceptable under international law.
“Proposals to remove or relocate the Palestinians from the Gaza Strip or in other words to drive them out … generate deep concern in some people, even horror,” Steinmeier said Wednesday after talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Turkish capital.
Steinmeier added such proposals were “not only unacceptable under international law” but would not serve as a “serious basis for talks” between regional actors and the United States.
The German president, who arrived in Ankara following trips to Saudi Arabia and Jordan, also reiterated Berlin’s support for a two-state solution.
The Arab League slams Trump’s plan to ‘take over’ the Gaza Strip
CAIRO — The Arab League joined a chorus of rejections on Wednesday of President Donald Trump’s plan to “take over” the Gaza Strip.
The 22-member regional grouping said in a statement that Trump’s proposal “represents a recipe for instability” that does not advance Palestinian statehood. It said it rejected the displacement of the Palestinians and that Gaza was an integral part of any future Palestinian state.
Netanyahu gifted Trump a golden beeper
JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave U.S. President Donald Trump a golden beeper as a gift during their meeting in Washington, in a nod to a sophisticated attack that exploded hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon, an Israeli official said.
The attack, which showed a deep infiltration into Hezbollah’s ranks and its operations, wounded thousands of people and killed at least nine. It was carried out Sept. 18, 2024, just as fighting between Israel and the Lebanese militant group was escalating, culminating in the deaths of multiple Hezbollah leaders and an eventual ceasefire after months of cross-border violence.
The Israeli official said that Trump, upon receiving the gift, responded: “That was a major operation.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to reveal details of the encounter to the media. White House officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
The official said Trump and Netanyahu spent five hours together and that their visit included a dinner, a tour of the White House and meetings with officials.
— By Josef Federman
Palestinian refugees in Lebanon say Trump’s proposal doomed to fail
BEIRUT — Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, many of whom in exile since 1948, believe that U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal for Gaza is doomed to fail, an activist said.
Suheil Natour, who heads an aid group in the Mar Elias camp in Beirut, said that neither the Palestinians themselves nor the neighboring countries that Trump suggested might absorb them will accept the population transfer plan.
He said that even U.S. allies like Egypt or Jordan refuse to be threatened to absorb the Palestinians from Gaza.
Fathi Kallab, a member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a leftist political faction, said that the displacement of residents under humanitarian pretexts is “considered a war crime punishable by law, as recognized by multiple international organizations.”
UK prime minister says Palestinians must be allowed to return to Gaza
LONDON — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says Palestinians must be allowed to return to their homes in Gaza.
Asked in the House of Commons about U.S. President Donald Trump’s suggestion Palestinians in Gaza could go to neighboring countries while the U.S. takes ownership of the territory, Starmer referred to images of “thousands of Palestinians walking through the rubble” to get back to what remains of their homes.
“They must be allowed home,” Starmer said.” They must be allowed to rebuild, and we should be with them in that rebuild, on the way to a two-state solution.”
Russia backs the creation of a Palestinian state
MOSCOW — The Kremlin reaffirmed on Wednesday that the creation of a Palestinian state is essential for the Middle East settlement.
Asked about U.S. President Donald Trump’s suggestion that displaced Palestinians in Gaza be permanently resettled outside the territory, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded that Moscow has taken notice of Trump’s comment. At the same time, he added that Jordan and Egypt rejected the idea.
Peskov said that “the Middle East settlement can only take place on a two-state basis.”
“We support it and believe that this is the only possible option,” he told reporters.
Germany says Gaza, West Bank and east Jerusalem belong to Palestinians
BERLIN — The foreign minister of Germany, a staunch ally of Israel, said “it is clear that Gaza — along with the West Bank and east Jerusalem — belongs to the Palestinians. They form the starting point for a future state of Palestine.”
“A displacement of the Palestinian civilian population from Gaza would not just be unacceptable and against international law,” Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said in a statement. “This would also lead to new suffering and new hatred.”
She said that there must not be a solution “over the heads of the Palestinians” and a negotiated two-state solution remains the only one.
Baerbock, who didn’t mention Trump or refer explicitly to his latest proposal, said everyone agrees “that Gaza must be rebuilt as soon as possible,” and that that will take “massive international commitment,” to which Europe is prepared to contribute. She said there’s also agreement that “the terrorists of Hamas” must in the future play no role in Gaza.
She said that all efforts must now be directed toward implementing the second stage of the ceasefire agreement and securing the release of the remaining hostages.
Some Israelis praise Trump’s plan for Gaza
JERUSALEM — Some Israelis praised U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to transfer the Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and rebuild it as a tourist destination.
“As someone who served eight months in Gaza in the last reserve, I think it is absolutely necessary to agree with Trump’s plan to evacuate all the Arabs from there and build … anything other than what is there today,” said Yaniv Cohen, a reservist soldier.
Israeli leaders also welcomed the plan, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu telling Trump at the White House: “You say things others refuse to say. And after the jaws drop, people scratch their heads and they say, ‘You know he’s right.’”
Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s far-right finance minister in charge of settlement approval, thanked Trump for his comments.
Benny Gantz, a centrist politician and former general long seen as a more moderate alternative to Netanyahu, said Trump’s proposal showed “creative, original and intriguing thinking,” but that it should be studied alongside other war goals, “prioritizing the return of all the hostages.”
There has not yet been a large-scale poll in Israel that would gauge a wider reaction to Trump’s comments, and many may find the plan extreme. Most Israelis are focused on bringing home the hostages remaining in Gaza and normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia and other countries — both of which appear less likely if Trump presses ahead with his proposal.
Robby Davidson, another Jerusalem resident, said he “loved” the plan because it would guarantee there was “no danger to us there in the south.”
A Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, triggered the 15-month war in Gaza, and many former residents are reluctant to return to the border area because they distrust the ability of Israel’s military to protect them from future attacks.
France warns against any displacement of Palestinians
PARIS — France firmly denounced any forced displacement of Gaza’s Palestinians, warning that it would cause upheaval across the Mideast.
In response to Trump’s comments, the French Foreign Minister said Tuesday that displacing Gaza’s Palestinians ″would constitute a grave violation of international law, an attack on the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinians, a major threat to the two-state solution and a factor of major destabilization for our close partners Egypt and Jordan as well as the entire region.″
It said France will mobilize for a two-state solution under the Palestinian Authority, and that ″Hamas should be disarmed and have no part in the governance of this territory.″
France also remains strongly opposed to Israeli settlements and ″any unilateral annexation of the West Bank,″ it said.
Palestinians, their allies and other nations are reacting strongly to President Donald Trump’s proposal that the United States “take over” the Gaza Strip and permanently resettle its residents.
Palestinians, their allies and other nations reacted strongly to President Donald Trump’s proposal that the United States “take over” the Gaza Strip and permanently resettle its residents.
Trump’s suggestion came at a White House news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who smiled several times as the president detailed a plan to build new settlements for Palestinians outside the Gaza Strip, and for the U.S. to take “ownership” in redeveloping the war-torn territory into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”
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“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too,” Trump said. “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, create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs.”
His remarks drew swift opposition from allies and adversaries alike.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called for the United Nations to “protect the Palestinian people and their inalienable rights,” saying that what Trump wanted to do would be “a serious violation of international law.”
___
Here’s the latest:
Malaysia’s government says it strongly opposes any plan involving forced displacement of Palestinians
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysia’s government said Thursday it strongly opposed any plan that could lead to the forced displacement of Palestinian people, condemning such actions as violating international laws.
The foreign ministry warned in a statement that “any unilateral solution disregarding Palestinian self-determination is unacceptable and will only prolong the conflict.” The statement didn’t name any country but was a clear reference to U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to resettle Palestinian refugees outside the war-torn territory.
Predominantly Muslim Malaysia, a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause, said it remained committed to the establishment of an independent and sovereign state of Palestine based on pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
“Malaysia also urges the international community to support the two-state solution and calls for Palestine’s full membership in the United Nations,” it said
Palestinian UN ambassador welcomes global opposition to Trump’s Gaza proposal
UNITED NATIONS – The Palestinian U.N. ambassador welcomed widespread global opposition to U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to move all Palestinians out of Gaza and said plans are moving ahead for an international conference in June focused on ending Israel’s occupation of Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
Riyad Mansour told a long-planned meeting of the General Assembly committee promoting Palestinian human rights that the Gaza Strip is “a very precious component” of the Palestinian homeland which the people love and will rebuild.
“This is our answer for those who want to kick us out of the Gaza Strip: There is no power on earth that can remove the Palestinian people from our ancestral homeland, including Gaza,” he said.
Mansour referred to a previous expulsion — in 1948 when some 700,000 Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes before and during the Arab-Israel war that followed Israel’s establishment.
“For those who want us to have a happy place and safe place, we will be delighted to return to our homes inside the state of Israel,” he said. “This is where we originally were kicked (out) from. If they want to do that for us, we will welcome it, but short of that, Gaza is part of the state of Palestine.”
Mansour invited all 193 U.N. member nations to attend the June conference at the United Nations, co-hosted by Saudi Arabia and France, to accomplish the objective of the U.N.’s highest court, the International Court of Justice. It ruled last July that Israel’s prolonged occupation of the Palestinian territories is illegal and has to be terminated as quickly as possible.
U.N. chief says only a two-state solution can bring stability to the Middle East
UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations chief believes U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to move all Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip would be “ethnic cleaning,” and says only a two-state solution can bring stability to the Middle East.
Without mentioning Trump, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told a long-planned meeting of the General Assembly committee supporting Palestinian rights on Wednesday that “in the search for solutions, we must not make the problem worse.”
“It is vital to stay true to the bedrock of international law,” he said. “It is essential to avoid any form of ethnic cleansing.”
U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric was asked earlier Wednesday if the secretary-general believes Trump’s plan for the U.S. to clean out and take over Gaza is ethnic cleansing. “Any forced displacement of people is tantamount to ethnic cleansing,” he replied.
Guterres stressed that any lasting peace will require an end to Israeli occupation of Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem, and progress toward a two-state solution where Israel and “a viable, sovereign Palestinian state” live side-by-side in peace and security.
The secretary-general also reiterated that nothing justifies Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks in southern Israel.
But he also pointed to the “chilling, systematic, dehumanization and demonization” of the entire Palestinian people, and “the catalogue of destruction and unspeakable horrors” in Gaza.
Guterres welcomed the current ceasefire and release of some hostages in Gaza and urged the international community to keep pushing for a permanent ceasefire and the release of all hostages taken on Oct. 7.
“We cannot go back to more death and destruction,” he said.
Macron invites Syria’s interim leader to visit France
DAMASCUS — French President Emmanuel Macron congratulated Syria’s newly installed interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa in a phone call Wednesday and invited him to visit France “in the coming weeks,” al-Sharaa’s office said in a statement.
The visit would mark a major step in the new Syrian government’s relations with Western countries after the fall of former President Bashar Assad in a lightning rebel offensive led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
Macron “stressed his country’s efforts to lift sanctions on Syria and pave the way for growth and recovery,” the statement said.
European Union foreign ministers last month agreed to begin lifting sanctions on Syria that had been imposed beginning in 2011 in response to Bashar Assad’s crackdown on protesters, which festered into a civil war.
Israel won’t participate in the top U.N. human rights body
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel’s foreign minister said Wednesday the country “will not participate” in the U.N.’s top human rights body, a day after President Donald Trump said the U.S. was withdrawing from the body.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar announced the move in a post on X and welcomed Trump’s decision. Israel is not a member of the council and in the past has limited its engagement with the U.N. Human Rights Council over what it says is the body’s bias against it.
Israel previously announced it would not participate in the UNHRC in 2018, following Trump’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from it.
Israel has long criticized the council for disproportionately targeting it with resolutions and condemnations.
“The U.N. Human Rights Council is a biased body that is obsessively focused on attacking Israel,” Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said.
Danon also accused the council of long ago abandoning “its moral compass” and said its election of Iran to leadership positions “proves the moral failure of this institution.”
Rubio says Trump’s proposal for Gaza was a ‘generous’ offer
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that President Donald Trump’s proposal to take “ownership” of Gaza and redevelop the area into “the Riviera of the Middle East” was a “generous” offer.
“It was not meant as a hostile move,” Rubio told journalists at a press conference while visiting Guatemala City. “It was meant as a, I think, a very generous move.”
He said it is “akin to a natural disaster” and people can’t live there because there are unexploded munitions, debris and rubble.
“In the interim, obviously people are going to have to live somewhere while you’re rebuilding it,” the top diplomat said.
Germany’s president says Trump’s proposal is unacceptable under international law
ANKARA, Turkey — German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that proposals for the deportation of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip were causing grave concerns in the region and were unacceptable under international law.
“Proposals to remove or relocate the Palestinians from the Gaza Strip or in other words to drive them out … generate deep concern in some people, even horror,” Steinmeier said Wednesday after talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Turkish capital.
Steinmeier added such proposals were “not only unacceptable under international law” but would not serve as a “serious basis for talks” between regional actors and the United States.
The German president, who arrived in Ankara following trips to Saudi Arabia and Jordan, also reiterated Berlin’s support for a two-state solution.
The Arab League slams Trump’s plan to ‘take over’ the Gaza Strip
CAIRO — The Arab League joined a chorus of rejections on Wednesday of President Donald Trump’s plan to “take over” the Gaza Strip.
The 22-member regional grouping said in a statement that Trump’s proposal “represents a recipe for instability” that does not advance Palestinian statehood. It said it rejected the displacement of the Palestinians and that Gaza was an integral part of any future Palestinian state.
Netanyahu gifted Trump a golden beeper
JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave U.S. President Donald Trump a golden beeper as a gift during their meeting in Washington, in a nod to a sophisticated attack that exploded hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon, an Israeli official said.
The attack, which showed a deep infiltration into Hezbollah’s ranks and its operations, wounded thousands of people and killed at least nine. It was carried out Sept. 18, 2024, just as fighting between Israel and the Lebanese militant group was escalating, culminating in the deaths of multiple Hezbollah leaders and an eventual ceasefire after months of cross-border violence.
The Israeli official said that Trump, upon receiving the gift, responded: “That was a major operation.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to reveal details of the encounter to the media. White House officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
The official said Trump and Netanyahu spent five hours together and that their visit included a dinner, a tour of the White House and meetings with officials.
— By Josef Federman
Palestinian refugees in Lebanon say Trump’s proposal doomed to fail
BEIRUT — Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, many of whom in exile since 1948, believe that U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal for Gaza is doomed to fail, an activist said.
Suheil Natour, who heads an aid group in the Mar Elias camp in Beirut, said that neither the Palestinians themselves nor the neighboring countries that Trump suggested might absorb them will accept the population transfer plan.
He said that even U.S. allies like Egypt or Jordan refuse to be threatened to absorb the Palestinians from Gaza.
Fathi Kallab, a member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a leftist political faction, said that the displacement of residents under humanitarian pretexts is “considered a war crime punishable by law, as recognized by multiple international organizations.”
UK prime minister says Palestinians must be allowed to return to Gaza
LONDON — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says Palestinians must be allowed to return to their homes in Gaza.
Asked in the House of Commons about U.S. President Donald Trump’s suggestion Palestinians in Gaza could go to neighboring countries while the U.S. takes ownership of the territory, Starmer referred to images of “thousands of Palestinians walking through the rubble” to get back to what remains of their homes.
“They must be allowed home,” Starmer said.” They must be allowed to rebuild, and we should be with them in that rebuild, on the way to a two-state solution.”
Russia backs the creation of a Palestinian state
MOSCOW — The Kremlin reaffirmed on Wednesday that the creation of a Palestinian state is essential for the Middle East settlement.
Asked about U.S. President Donald Trump’s suggestion that displaced Palestinians in Gaza be permanently resettled outside the territory, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded that Moscow has taken notice of Trump’s comment. At the same time, he added that Jordan and Egypt rejected the idea.
Peskov said that “the Middle East settlement can only take place on a two-state basis.”
“We support it and believe that this is the only possible option,” he told reporters.
Germany says Gaza, West Bank and east Jerusalem belong to Palestinians
BERLIN — The foreign minister of Germany, a staunch ally of Israel, said “it is clear that Gaza — along with the West Bank and east Jerusalem — belongs to the Palestinians. They form the starting point for a future state of Palestine.”
“A displacement of the Palestinian civilian population from Gaza would not just be unacceptable and against international law,” Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said in a statement. “This would also lead to new suffering and new hatred.”
She said that there must not be a solution “over the heads of the Palestinians” and a negotiated two-state solution remains the only one.
Baerbock, who didn’t mention Trump or refer explicitly to his latest proposal, said everyone agrees “that Gaza must be rebuilt as soon as possible,” and that that will take “massive international commitment,” to which Europe is prepared to contribute. She said there’s also agreement that “the terrorists of Hamas” must in the future play no role in Gaza.
She said that all efforts must now be directed toward implementing the second stage of the ceasefire agreement and securing the release of the remaining hostages.
Some Israelis praise Trump’s plan for Gaza
JERUSALEM — Some Israelis praised U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to transfer the Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and rebuild it as a tourist destination.
“As someone who served eight months in Gaza in the last reserve, I think it is absolutely necessary to agree with Trump’s plan to evacuate all the Arabs from there and build … anything other than what is there today,” said Yaniv Cohen, a reservist soldier.
Israeli leaders also welcomed the plan, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu telling Trump at the White House: “You say things others refuse to say. And after the jaws drop, people scratch their heads and they say, ‘You know he’s right.’”
Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s far-right finance minister in charge of settlement approval, thanked Trump for his comments.
Benny Gantz, a centrist politician and former general long seen as a more moderate alternative to Netanyahu, said Trump’s proposal showed “creative, original and intriguing thinking,” but that it should be studied alongside other war goals, “prioritizing the return of all the hostages.”
There has not yet been a large-scale poll in Israel that would gauge a wider reaction to Trump’s comments, and many may find the plan extreme. Most Israelis are focused on bringing home the hostages remaining in Gaza and normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia and other countries — both of which appear less likely if Trump presses ahead with his proposal.
Robby Davidson, another Jerusalem resident, said he “loved” the plan because it would guarantee there was “no danger to us there in the south.”
A Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, triggered the 15-month war in Gaza, and many former residents are reluctant to return to the border area because they distrust the ability of Israel’s military to protect them from future attacks.
France warns against any displacement of Palestinians
PARIS — France firmly denounced any forced displacement of Gaza’s Palestinians, warning that it would cause upheaval across the Mideast.
In response to Trump’s comments, the French Foreign Minister said Tuesday that displacing Gaza’s Palestinians ″would constitute a grave violation of international law, an attack on the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinians, a major threat to the two-state solution and a factor of major destabilization for our close partners Egypt and Jordan as well as the entire region.″
It said France will mobilize for a two-state solution under the Palestinian Authority, and that ″Hamas should be disarmed and have no part in the governance of this territory.″
France also remains strongly opposed to Israeli settlements and ″any unilateral annexation of the West Bank,″ it said.
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