During a phone call on Saturday, President Trump informed King Abdullah II of Jordan that he wants Jordan and Egypt to accept more people from the Gaza Strip. This suggestion challenges a policy enshrined by the international community and Arab states since 1948.
“I told him, ‘I’d love for you to take on more because the Gaza Strip is a mess right now,’” Trump said to reporters aboard Air Force One after a rally in Las Vegas. He also expressed plans to discuss the matter with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on Sunday.
“I’d like him to take people. I’d like Egypt to take people,” Trump reiterated. “You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say, ‘You know, it’s over.’ I don’t know. Something has to happen, but it’s literally a demolition site right now.”
Trump said he complimented King Abdullah for successfully accepting PA Arab refugees, and told him, “I’d love for you to take on more, ’cause I’m looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now, and it’s a mess. It’s a real mess.”
“Something has to happen,” Trump told the reporters on Air Force One, “But it’s literally a demolition site right now. Almost everything’s demolished, and people are dying there. So, I’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.”
After his inauguration last Monday, President Trump suggested Gaza “really got to be rebuilt in a different way,” and added, from a real estate mogul’s point of view, “Gaza is interesting. It’s a phenomenal location, on the sea. The best weather, you know, everything is good. It’s like, some beautiful things could be done with it, but it’s very interesting.”
Also last Monday, NBC News quoted an unnamed official on the Trump transition team who claimed that the team was exploring the idea of temporarily relocating some 2 million PA Arabs for the duration of a post-war reconstruction of Gaza, and named Indonesia as a potential host country. On Tuesday, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry rejected the proposal, saying it had “never received any information from anyone, nor any plans regarding the relocation of some of Gaza’s 2 million inhabitants to Indonesia as part of post-conflict reconstruction efforts.”
“Indonesia’s stance remains unequivocal: any attempts to displace or remove Gaza’s residents is entirely unacceptable,” the foreign ministry’s statement read.
Israel’s Channel 14 reports that Egypt already said, thank you, but no thank you. They don’t want any Gazans in their country. Jordan’s foreign minister also rejected the idea.
Someone should tell these Muslim countries, if you’re not part of the solution, then you’re part of the problem.
