Donald Trump does not back down, at least not entirely. After shaking the entire planet by stating last Tuesday, in a joint appearance with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that the United States "will take control of the Gaza Strip" to lead its reconstruction, without the Palestinian population, and to turn it into the "Riviera of the Middle East," this Thursday he maintained the proposal, but with a significant nuance: the surreal operation he is considering would not involve the deployment of US troops, something he had not ruled out two days ago.
"The Gaza Strip would be handed over by Israel to the United States at the end of the fighting. The Palestinians, people like Chuck Schumer, will have already been resettled in much safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern houses in the region. In fact, they would have the opportunity to be happy, safe, and free. The United States, working with large development teams from around the world, would slowly and carefully begin the construction of what would become one of the largest and most spectacular development projects on Earth. No American soldiers would be needed! Stability would reign in the region!" he wrote on his Truth Social account, his own network.
The plan is a delirium, a nonsense, an illegality, and an impossibility. The forced displacement of nearly two million people is unthinkable, and although Trump insists all the time that "people are thrilled with the idea" and that world leaders are in favor, no one outside of Israel or the most radical wing of the Republican Party has shown support. But the underlying issue that Trump faces is a truly serious problem that needs to be addressed. And the president, absurd as it may seem, has at least one idea.
Gaza is devastated, full of unexploded bombs, without any infrastructure. Rebuilding it will cost tens of billions and years. Part of the population that has tried to return to their homes after the ceasefire, a precarious one that no one is sure will hold, has reversed course and returned to refugee camps, where at least there are minimal resources for survival. So Trump suggests taking on that task, as long as Egypt, Jordan, and other countries from the region or Europe take care of the population.
Confusing messages have come from the White House in the last 48 hours. And from the MAGA universe, there is indignation and surprise. They feel betrayed because this involvement to help Israel does not align well with the 'America First' they preach. And it means continuing the US presence in the region, after clamoring against soldiers in Afghanistan or Iraq.
From the president's team, they suggest that the idea had been in the president's mind for a few weeks and has been taking shape, but with language beyond what was expected and desired by his experts. And they clarify that his idea was not a permanent expulsion but a "temporary" one, according to the official spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt.
Steve Witkoff, the president's special envoy to the Middle East who contributed to the ceasefire by pressuring Israel, told a group of Republican senators at a closed-door lunch in the Capitol on Wednesday that Trump "does not want to put American troops on the ground and does not want to spend any American dollars at all," as explained by one of those present. But he does want to pressure Arab countries to start providing asylum to hundreds of thousands of people.
Trump is addressing the issue as he does with business and as Netanyahu applauded, defining it as "thinking outside the box" and "seeing and saying what no one else dares." With undoubtedly unconventional ideas and proposing negotiations. But the scope of his decisions has immediate consequences. Trump, obviously, is not neutral. He wants an Israeli victory, his main ally. And while he slightly forced his hand to sign the temporary and highly sequenced ceasefire, he also gave Netanyahu the green light for Cisjordan.
His team is not only made up of Israel sympathizers but also Jews or evangelicals who believe that Palestine does not exist and that Gaza and Cisjordan, or Judea and Samaria as they call it, are part of Israel. In recent weeks, Trump has lifted sanctions on extremist settlers in Cisjordan and lifted restrictions on arms shipments that Biden had imposed due to Jerusalem's uncontrolled response to the attacks on October 7, which have left tens of thousands of civilians dead in Gaza.
The best example of that worldview is in today's message on his social network, with the criticism of Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer, former majority leader, a Jew from New York, whom he derogatorily refers to as "Palestinian" after Schumer was one of the senators who boycotted Netanyahu's visit to the Capitol last summer. "Chuck Schumer refused to shake hands with the Israeli prime minister," Trump told his supporters at a rally in Pennsylvania in August. "Chuck Schumer has become Palestinian. Can you believe it? He has become a proud member of Hamas," he concluded by associating both things.