By Jemimah Wellington, JKNewsMedia Reporter
REACTIONS ERUPTED on Tuesday as President Donald Trump doubled down on his proposal for Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip and announced that the United States will take over the tiny territory in a joint press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump unveils radical plan for U.S. control of Gaza during White House meeting with Netanyahu, envisioning international development while relocating residents.
“The U.S will take over the Gaza Strip for the foreseeable future,” President Donald Trump announced Tuesday evening during a
joint press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following their hour-long Oval Office meeting.
He said by taking over Gaza the US will create economic development that will supply an “unlimited number of jobs and housing for the people of the area.”
Trump said he sees taking over Gaza as a way to bring stability not only to Israel’s neighbors but potentially the entire Middle East.
Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu Presser
The press conference culminated after a day of remarks by Trump on the future of Gaza, which saw an unprecedented overhaul of U.S. foreign policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Trump also spoke from the Oval Office while signing executive orders and then alongside Netanyahu during a White House visit.
Among Trump’s most exceptional remarks is his proposal for a U.S. takeover in Gaza, pitching that ownership would bring stability to the Middle East, and for Palestinians to move out of the Gaza Strip, possibly into Egypt and Jordan despite those countries rejecting the deal.
“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job —whether 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,” Trump said.
“Create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area, do a real job, do something different,” he said.
Trump did not respond when questioned on what authority would allow the U.S. to take over Gaza, but he said he’s seeking a “long-term ownership” that he thinks can bring stability to the Middle East.
He said he envisioned “the world’s people” living in Gaza, adding that it will be an “international, unbelievable place” that includes Palestinians and others.
Gaza is not a sovereign land and is considered under international law to be occupied territory.
However, Trump is described as throwing cold water on Saudi Arabia’s public remarks that establishment of a Palestinian state is nonnegotiable in opening ties with Israel.
“They are demanding one thing. You know what it is? Peace,” Trump said in remarks from the Oval Office alongside Netanyahu.
Trump is laser focused on brokering diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel under the banner of his Abraham Accords, an unfinished goal from his first term in office and viewed as a game changer in Middle East power dynamics to push back on Iran.
“I think the administration will be looking towards building on the end of the Gaza war, ultimately to promote regional normalization,” a senior administration official told reporters.
U.S. and Israeli mediators are beginning talks on phase two of a three-phase ceasefire deal that is expected to go into effect on March 1 — although that deadline can be extended as long as both Israel and Hamas are engaged in talks.
The second phase of the deal is expected to include a civilian Palestinian governing body administering the strip, the withdrawal of Israeli troops, reconstruction and an agreement to end the war.
But Trump doubted whether the Palestinian Authority, the ruling body in the West Bank, could administer the Gaza Strip.
“Well it’s had a pretty hard time, wouldn’t you say? I’d say it’s had a pretty bad time of it,” he said.
The second phase would see Hamas release more hostages it kidnapped from Israel, including American Edan Alexander, who was kidnapped while serving in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
Trump suggested that he thinks an end to the war in Ukraine is near, saying his administration is trying “very hard” to end it.
“We are having very good talks, very constructive talks on Ukraine and we are talking to the Russians, talking to the Ukrainian leadership,” he said.
He doubled down on his argument that the war in Ukraine wouldn’t have happened if he was president when Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded.
“We’re having very good talks and I think something will be, hopefully dramatically, it will rise about everything. You have to, you can’t let this continue,” he said.
Additionally, Trump and Netanyahu discussed the significance of Iran not having access to a nuclear weapon, hours after the president signed an executive order to apply maximum pressure on Iran.
“I want Iran to be peaceful and successful, I hated doing it,” Trump said earlier in the Oval Office of signing the order. “They cannot have a nuclear weapon, and if I think that they will have a nuclear weapon … I think that will be very unfortunate for them.”
When asked in the Oval Office earlier on Tuesday if he would greenlight Netanyahu if he asked for help in striking at Iran’s nuclear facilities, Trump replied, “I don’t know that that’s what he’s going to be asking for, I have no idea that he is.”
In an unusual move, Congress has put a hold on Trump’s plans to announce a $1 billion arms sale package for Israel.
The four top lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee have the power to individually block arms sales when they exceed a certain dollar amount. Two congressional aides confirmed that a member of this group exercised the hold.
The Wall Street Journal, citing U.S. officials, reported that the $1 billion arms sale package includes 4,700 1,000-pound bombs, worth more than $700 million, as well as armored bulldozers built by Caterpillar, worth more than $300 million.
Arms sales to Israel are historically bipartisan, even as Democrats have increasingly raised alarm over Israel’s war conduct in the Gaza Strip and Netanyahu’s policies toward Palestinians.
But the move comes as Democrats have floundered in pushing back against Trump’s agenda since taking office.
With reports from international media agencies
