"Riviera of the Middle East" Trump claims Gaza for the USA - an overview in five points

In a previous life, Donald Trump was a real estate entrepreneur. Now he is US President and is declaring the war-ravaged Gaza Strip a kind of glossy construction project. He's serious about it.

DPA

05.02.2025, 04:06

05.02.2025, 13:07

dpa

US President Donald Trump shocks with a new initiative on the Middle East conflict. The 78-year-old wants the United States to take control of the Gaza Strip and economically develop the war-ravaged Palestinian coastal region.

"The US will take over the Gaza Strip," said Trump after a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in Washington. "We will own it", he emphasized - and did not rule out sending US troops there in case of doubt to back up these plans. This could turn the Gaza Strip into a "Riviera of the Middle East".

According to Trump, the approximately two million Palestinians for whom the Gaza Strip is their home should live in other Arab states in the region in future. The Republican has been advocating this proposal for a while now and has met with a great deal of criticism. The fact that he is now turning this into a business idea is likely to trigger major protests. As is the threat to call in the military in case of doubt. When asked whether he would send US troops to the coastal strip to fill the security vacuum, Trump said: "If it's necessary, we will do it."

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The Gaza Strip is a 365 square kilometer area on the Mediterranean Sea between Israel and Egypt. The sealed-off coastal area, where living conditions for the civilian population were already extremely difficult, was turned into a field of rubble during the war between Israel and Hamas. The war was triggered by a devastating Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed in Israel and more than 250 were deported to Gaza. Israel's army responded with attacks on the terrorist group, which reduced the Gaza Strip to rubble.

According to UN figures, around two thirds of all buildings there were destroyed or damaged during the war. 90 percent of the approximately 2.1 million people in the Gaza Strip became internally displaced persons. According to Palestinian figures, which are considered credible by the United Nations, more than 47,000 people were killed.

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Now the US President and former real estate entrepreneur Trump is publicly raving that this area, of all places, has immense potential for economic and real estate development. "I think the potential of the Gaza Strip is incredible," he said. People from all over the world could live there in the future. The whole thing could be simply "phenomenal" and "great" - and also "wonderful for the Palestinians".

The aim would be to "remove all dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site" and "level it out" so that it could then be rebuilt, Trump said. This would create "an unlimited number of jobs and housing for the people in the area".

Trump's initiative is reminiscent of a statement made by his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who described the coastal area of the Gaza Strip as "very valuable" a year ago. Ivanka Trump's husband suggested temporarily resettling Palestinian civilians in order to "clean up" the area. Kushner was Trump's Middle East adviser during his first term in office and forged close ties with key players in the region. Critics point out that Kushner, who is active in the real estate industry, has economic ambitions in the Middle East - and at the same time continues to be an influential voice in Trump's circle.

Trump has long been in favor of completely evacuating the Gaza Strip and "resettling" the Palestinians living there to Arab countries such as Egypt or Jordan. The resettlement of people against their will is referred to as forced resettlement or expulsion.

Jordan and Egypt: Even before the memorable press conference, the idea of forced resettlement of Palestinians caused a great deal of outrage. Jordan and Egypt rejected the proposal because they see it as an end to the long efforts to establish a Palestinian state. The Islamist Hamas, which took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, accused Trump of "racism" and a blatant attempt to deny the Palestinians their inalienable national rights.

Saudi Arabia: The Kingdom opposes "any violation of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, whether through Israeli settlement policy, annexation of land or attempts to expel the Palestinian people from their land", according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Riyadh.

Gaza: Above all, however, the people in the Gaza Strip reacted angrily to Trump's proposal to expel them from there. Abdel Aziz Hana, a Palestinian from Gaza, said: "For 15 months I have endured the bombings and destruction in Gaza City." He had lost dozens of relatives and loved ones because they were not allowed to leave the Gaza Strip, said the 49-year-old father of seven, who lives in a tent next to the rubble of his house. "So how can such a stupid man think that we will leave our country?"

Another resident named Abu Mahmoud said that if Trump believed the Palestinians were leaving their country, he was delusional. "They have to kill us first," he said, "neither our feet nor our hearts will leave Gaza, even if we are killed in it." The anger of these men was already great before Trump pushed his idea further and publicly praised Gaza as the seaside resort of the future. Now it is likely to grow.

Netanyahu: Trump has received support for his Gaza plans from the Israeli Prime Minister. "He sees a different future for this piece of land that has been the source of so much terrorism," said Netanyahu during the joint appearance with Trump. "This is something that could change history." Netanyahu generally enthused about Trump's departure from "conventional thinking" and his "fresh ideas".

For Netanyahu, who came under heavy international criticism for his conduct of the war in the Gaza Strip, Trump's return is a blessing. The Republican received him as his first foreign guest since taking office. Such an invitation right at the start of his term of office is a strong gesture of support for the right-wing prime minister, who has come under a lot of pressure at national and international level in recent months.

USA, Senator Chris Van Hollen: Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen sees US President Donald Trump's plan to bring Gaza under US control and forcibly relocate the people living there as an announcement of a serious breach of international law.

"I think we need to repeat what the President of the United States just said," Van Hollen told US broadcaster MSNBC shortly after Trump's memorable press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "He just said that it will be the policy of the United States to forcibly expel two million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip - it's called ethnic cleansing."

Van Hollen described Trump's plan as "despicable in many ways" and warned that the Republican was massively endangering the safety of US soldiers and embassy staff in the region with his statements. "This is probably the most dangerous and toxic mix of ideas you could possibly put together right now. And therefore it will be a moment of great danger for Americans," the senator explained. Trump is escalating the already tense situation in the Middle East: "What the president is doing here is basically throwing a match into an already extremely volatile region."

The USA is Israel's most important ally. Trump's predecessor Joe Biden had stood by Israel despite increasing criticism of its actions in Gaza, but took a much harsher stance towards Netanyahu's government. The relationship between Biden and Netanyahu was tense and the Democratic US President at times conspicuously distanced himself from the Israeli. Trump, on the other hand, is known as a close ally of Netanyahu.

In his first term of office (2017 to 2021), Trump had already made a number of unilaterally pro-Israeli decisions, thereby antagonizing the Palestinians. His positioning on Middle East policy has therefore been quite predictable so far. But even his biggest critics probably didn't see Trump's new move coming.