Trump Proposes U.S. Control of Gaza

“President Donald Trump on Tuesday proposed that the United States take a ‘long-term ownership position’ over Gaza, moving its residents to a ‘good, fresh, beautiful piece of land’ in another country and rebuilding the war-torn territory under U.S. control, offering a vision of mass displacement likely to inflame sentiments in the Arab world as he welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House,” the Washington Post reports.

“Trump’s proposal was likely to provoke a furious reaction from many Palestinians as well as their Arab allies in the region, since it suggested permanently removing Gaza’s 2.2 million residents from Palestinian territory and settling them outside of their land. It would also pull the United States even more deeply into the conflict by taking over territory that belongs to Palestinians.”

Wall Street Journal: “The proposal, if implemented, would deeply involve the U.S. in a massive development project that Trump officials said earlier in the day could take 10 to 15 years. He left unaddressed how the U.S. would persuade Palestinians to voluntarily surrender their land and whether Israel would ultimately exercise sovereignty in the territory.”

The New York Times reports Trump, sounding like the real estate developer he once was, vowed to turn it into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”