U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to evict Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and have the U.S. take it over seemed laughable when he first proposed it in February. Now, he appears to have Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his side, and the odds of this happening are increasing.
Leaders of other Middle East countries vehemently oppose the plan, and the forced removal of an entire ethnic group is impermissible under international law. But the second Trump administration has shown little regard for such laws in other global affairs.
Now, both NBC News and TIME report Netanyahu may be on board.
Trump first floated the idea when Netanyahu visited the White House in February, and the idea seemed to catch the Israeli leader off guard. However, he has led a decimation of the Gaza Strip and made it nearly impossible to live there due to his retaliatory strikes against Hamas.
When Netanyahu visited the White House again July 7, however, his attitude had changed.
“It’s called free choice. You know, if people want to stay, they can stay, but if they want to leave, they should be able to leave,” Netanyahu said. “It shouldn’t be a prison. It should be an open place and give people a free choice.”
“The resettlement of Palestinians has gone from a fringe idea … to something openly entertained by the White House.”
NBC News reports: “Today, the resettlement of Palestinians has gone from a fringe idea supported mainly by Netanyahu’s far-right nationalist coalition partners to something openly entertained by the White House. Some Israeli settler leaders have called for the reoccupation of the territory. Palestinian leaders have condemned the idea.”
NBC also quoted Mustafa Barghouti, a senior Palestinian politician and head of the Palestinian National Initiative political party: “When they say it would be voluntary, that is so misleading, because when you bomb people every day, when you starve people for 126 days, who can call that a voluntary decision?”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt framed it differently: “I think (Trump) discussed a rebuilding of Gaza once this war is over. This has become an uninhabitable place for human beings, and the president has a big heart. He wants this to be a prosperous, safe part of the region where people and families can thrive.”
Others call the plan “ethnic cleansing” and “forced migration.”
The Gaza Strip is only 25 miles long and 3.7 to 7.5 miles wide. Before the current Israeli bombardment, an estimated 2.1 million people lived there, making it one of the most densely populated places in the world.
Originally a Canaanite settlement, it came under the control of the ancient Egyptians for 350 years before the Philistines took over. Gaza later passed through the Assyrian Empire, Alexander the Great, the Seleucids of Syria and the Ptolemies of Egypt, then the Hasmoneans. It became part of the Roman Empire and its residents were forced to convert to Christianity, then later most residents became Muslims. Gaza played a role in the Crusades and during World War I came under the control of the British.
In modern times, the land has been occupied by Egypt, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Hamas and others. Gaza never has been occupied by the U.S.
For now, neither Trump nor anyone else has been able to bring about a ceasefire in the Israeli war on Hamas, and dozens of Israeli hostages remain in Hamas captivity. No rebuilding is likely to happen until the bombing stops. Gaza lies in ruins, and any rebuilding is estimated to take years.
Some of Trump’s supporters have envisioned a Trump-theme seaside resort on the Gaza Strip, and Trump himself has said it should be developed into a “Riveria of the Middle East.”
In March, a Brookings Institution poll found 55% of Americans oppose a U.S. takeover of Gaza, including 77% of Democrats and 37% of Republicans. Only 18% of Americans said they supported the idea, including 6% of Democrats and 30% of Republicans.
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