Frankly, the news last week that Saudi Arabia will be increasing its U.S. trade and investment by some $600 billion dollars made us wince. Despite President Trump’s really solid record on Israel, we couldn’t help but wonder whether the Saudis think they will be buying something extra beyond the terms of the deal and complicate the negotiations on Israel’s issues. After all, by any measure, $600 billion is a game changing amount of money.
So, we welcomed the President’s subsequent outside-the-box peace proposal that calls for Palestinians to vacate much of the Gaza Strip and relocation to neighboring Arab states, mainly Jordan and Egypt. Mr. Trump said the resettling of the Palestinians from Gaza “could be temporary or long term.” He said Gaza “is literally a demolition site right now,” and that he’d “rather get involved with some of the Arab nations, and build housing in a different location, where they can maybe live in peace for a change.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, officials have not yet spelled out any specifics to the Trump proposals including how to relocate the almost two million Palestinians residents of Gaza and whether there would be an opportunity for them to govern their own territory.
But President Trump did go to say that “you’re talking about a million and a half people, and we just clean out the whole thing. You know over the centuries it’s had many, many conflicts. And I don’t know, something has to happen.”
So, Trump’s proposal seems to be a matter of fact, common sense solution based on the current realities that could ultimately appeal to the devastated Palestinians who are likely desperate for some relief and Egypt and Jordan who would like things to quiet down or a while.
And while the plan might seem pie in the sky, never forget that it was Trump’s out of the box vision that led to the Abraham Accords and the peaceful relocation of the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Of course, once the relocation of the Palestinians kicks in, there is always the chance that it would get a life of its own regardless of the factors that caused it.
At all events, it’s good to see where President Trump’s thinking about the Middle East is at, despite the looming mega input of Saudi money into the U.S.
