Trump Claims Ownership of Gaza While Hosting Netanyahu

Farrukh Abadi

During a meeting between Trump and Netanyahu in the White House on Tuesday, Trump proposed that the US “will take over” Gaza and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East”. He further stated that the Palestinians should be transferred to neighboring Arab countries, claiming that they are only remaining in Gaza because “they have no alternative.” Trump suggested using US troops to carry out the genocidal plan.

Israeli officials across the political spectrum in the government supported the proposal, with Netanyahu saying that it was “the first good idea” he’s heard about post-war Gaza.

Arab governments once again rejected the proposal, having already rejected a previous proposal made by Trump to take displaced Palestinians.

Senior Hamas politburo official Dr. Basem Naim pointed out that “For 15 months, Netanyahu and his fascist government have tried to displace the residents of the Gaza Strip and have failed to achieve this goal in the face of our people’s steadfastness and adherence to their land and homeland. What the occupation has failed to do, no American administration or power in the world will succeed in implementing.”

The last decades of genocide and forced displacement to neighboring Arab countries have seen the Palestinians transform their refugee camps into staging grounds to continue carrying out attacks against Israel to secure their homeland. Neither genocide nor forced displacement have curbed the Palestinian struggle for national liberation.

The Middle East, from Gaza to Afghanistan, is the graveyard of its invaders, be they the Zionist hordes or their US imperialist backers. Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, the release of Palestinian prisoners, and the return of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to northern Gaza amid the retreat of Israeli forces indicates that Trump’s genocidal plans will not fare any better than Israel’s.

The following day, several officials in the Trump administration played down the proposal, with several stating that there are no financial or military plans in place.

Trump Expands Arms Transfer to Israel While Calling for Ceasefire

The proposal comes amid discussions on the second phase of the ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian resistance forces in Gaza. Trump stated that there are “no guarantees for the ceasefire to continue”, though he later said that he is committed to seeing it through. An end to the ceasefire would see the continuation of guerrilla warfare carried out by the resistance against exhausted Israeli forces, who have increasingly pivoted the brunt of its genocide against the West Bank as it attempts to annex it. There, too, they have been met with stiff resistance from armed Palestinians, who have lately ramped up counteroffensive attacks on Israeli forces.

Trump also signed an order to replenish Israeli arms. Despite receiving a steady supply of weapons from the Biden administration, it has proved insufficient to defeat resistance forces.

The meeting with Netanyahu marks Trump’s first meeting with a foreign politician in the White House during his second term.

Photo: Trump meets with Netanyahu.

The Worker is an entirely volunteer-run revolutionary newspaper free from and radically antagonistic to corporate influence. We rely on the support of our readers to sustain our editorial line in service of the working class and the reconstitution of its party, the Communist Party. Make a one-time or recurring donation to our newspaper today: