Trump Announces US Will “take over” and “own” Gaza

US President Donald Trump has stated that the US will “take over” and “own” Gaza after relocating Palestinians abroad under an ambitious reconstruction plan that he claims will transform the territory into “the Riviera of the Middle East”.

In a surprise decision that upended decades of US policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Trump said on Tuesday that his administration would drive economic development in the enclave to “provide an unlimited number of jobs and housing for the people of the area.”

“The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it, too. We’ll own it,” Trump said at the White House after talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, adding that his administration would be responsible for clearing destroyed buildings and dismantling “dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons”.

Hamas, the Palestinian group that governs Gaza, swiftly condemned the proposal as a “recipe for creating chaos and tension in the region”.

“Our people in the Gaza Strip will not allow these plans to pass,” the group said in a statement.

“What is required is an end to the occupation and aggression against our people, not their expulsion from their land. Our people in Gaza have thwarted displacement and deportation plans under bombardment for more than 15 months.”

In his remarks, Trump suggested the US would take a “long-term ownership position” over the enclave.

“This was not a decision made lightly. Everybody I’ve spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land, developing and creating thousands of jobs with something that will be magnificent,” he said.

Offering few specifics about how his plan would be implemented, Trump expressed hope that displaced Palestinians in Gaza would “go to other countries of interest with humanitarian hearts”, though he suggested Palestinians would also continue living there.

The US president said Gaza could become home to the “world’s people”.

“I think you will make that into an international, unbelievable place. I think the potential in the Gaza Strip is unbelievable. And I think the entire world – representatives from all over the world will be there and they’ll live there. Palestinians also, Palestinians will live there,” he said.

“Many people will live there.”

Asked if US military could be dispatched to Gaza to ensure security, Trump acknowledged it was a possibility.

“As far as Gaza is concerned, we’ll do what is necessary. If it’s necessary, we’ll do that,” he said.

Netanyahu, who praised Trump as the “greatest friend” Israel has ever had, said the US president’s plan was worth “paying attention to” and could “change history”.

“He sees a different future for that piece of land that has been the focus of so much terrorism, so many attacks against us, so many trials and so many tribulations,” Netanyahu said.

Trump’s announcement was broadly condemned by Palestinian advocates.

“He’s essentially saying that, officially, US policy now is the destruction of Palestinian society, the scattering of Palestinians to neighbouring countries, and on top of that, for the US to come and own Palestinian territory indefinitely,” political analyst and human rights advocate Omar Baddar told Al Jazeera.

“I don’t know what planet we are living on where these statements are coming out of the president of the United States.”

Abed Ayoub, executive director at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), described Trump’s proposal as “terrifying” and “insane”.

“It would go against all norms and international law. This isn’t something that would be permitted to happen,” Ayoub told Al Jazeera.

“But at this point, you’ve got to ask yourself if you look at the past year and a half: How much does the international community, including Israel, really care about international law and norms?”

Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, a Palestinian-American who is a resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, said that Gaza was not a “real estate development project for the United States government to own or take over”.