A few more details on Trump’s Gaza plan
I don’t think the word “plan” is exactly correct. Vision? Suggestion? Proposal? Fantasy? Negotiating tactic?
At any rate, here are more details:
Writing on the Truth Social platform, President Trump announced that no U.S. troops would be needed to implement the plan. …
“The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting,” President Trump said on Truth Social.
“The Palestinians … would have already been resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region. They would actually have a chance to be happy, safe, and free,” he said. “The U.S., working with great development teams from all over the World, would slowly and carefully begin the construction of what would become one of the greatest and most spectacular developments of its kind on Earth.”
Move over, Marshall Plan. Say hello to Gaza-by-the-sea.
Note the “no US troops” statement, which should placate the worst fears of those who voted for Trump to greatly limit troop commitments abroad. I never thought he had any intention of involving US troops, even though he had left it open when he made his announcement. Note also that this assumes an Israeli victory. Plus, unspecified “development teams from all over the world” would be part of it. Trump’s greatest real estate project.
As I wrote earlier, no one knows whether any of this will happen, and there’s an excellent chance it will not. But it certainly has changed the conversation, and one of the most important elements of that change is that it makes it clear there is no 2-state solution in the sense that it’s been used in the past. If this is a 2-state solution, it’s a completely different one.
When Arabs have moved to European countries – or when Palestinians have moved from Gaza or the West Bank to Egypt or Jordan or Lebanon – in the past many have kept to their murderous and destructive ways. If the Gazans move now, will this be the case once again, especially when united with their leftist champions in Europe? Or, with the near-destruction of Gaza, are at least some of them ready to just live their lives in a better place, not continually thinking they have a right to return to Israel itself? I think it’s a longshot. But it’s an intriguing thought. And no one seems to have a better one.
I have read that Muslims are commanded that any land they hold must never be ceded to “infidels,” and that this is one reason they are dead set against Israel’s existence. So presumably after Gaza is rebuilt, it would need to be repopulated with Muslims?
What Trump is pitching will not be bought except in the Werst.
What is needed is a Reformation of the Muslim religion of Islam. Christianity went through its reformation and became a much more tolerant, peaceful religion as a result. No one seems to believe such a thing is possible in Islam, except a few Muslims like Zuhdi Jasser.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zuhdi_Jasser
As long as there are Muslims who
accept the teachings of Sayyid Qutb and Hassan al Banna, there will be no peace in the ME.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_Brotherhood
I think Trump is a genius in the art of the deal. But he’s trying to sell a better life to people who don’t necessarily want a better life. Maybe the negotiations will uncover something that no one has thought of before. I have my doubts, but we can hope.
The most important part of this plan is the rejection of the two state solution fantasy. What happens to Gaza after the current residents are evicted is less important than how the eviction will take place. There are probably a lot of Gazans who would be happy to leave the Gaza hell hole to start a new life in a relatively safe pace but there are a lot of others who would rather die than leave. What to do about those people is still the biggest problem in trying to find a solution to this mess.
What is clear – is that before anything is to start Israel will first conclude their fight. Absolutely no need for “US troops” from opening til end.
Israel is a *BIG* player in this, and they can keep killing Balestinians until Hamas surrenders or is no more. Lots of destruction is still left to do in Gaza – if Israel so chooses. Even more years in tents depending on water ‘n food handouts. More than the “15 years” estimates to rebuild—if Israel decides that more destruction is needed. Electricity? Listening to hundreds of generators running day ‘n night gets old quick. Toilets? They’re next to the showers…I guess. Listen for slamming doors and that will be where the toilets are, i.e., tents don’t usually have doors that slam.
J.J.
Not sure Trump’s trying to sell the concept of a better life to the Palestinians. Dan Crenshaw opines this is to put the Arab nations on the spot. Your sympathy for Palestine and the Gazans means you’ll take them in and fix things in Gaza for them, right?
Right?
He’s selling the prospect of a better life for the Palestinians to many other actors in the region and elsewhere. We’ll see where that goes.
It will now be difficult for the locals to indicate they don’t want to help those with whom they publicly sympathized at no cost to themselves.
So Trump stands there and says….”Okay. I gave them a chance to make good. Now what is Israel supposed to do?”
The past can greatly influence the present, but it can’t dictate it. Afghanistan was considered the place empires go to die, compared to the Gaza strip it doesn’t hold a candle to it. I have no idea what will happen, this makes me afraid.
I’m reminded of an old macabre joke about how to end the Vietnam war.
1. Remove everyone you think isn’t a Communist and put them on massive ships offshore.
2. Kill everyone who is left
3. Sink the ships
FWIW, I think the suggestion is just a negotiation tactic.
@Sennacherib:Afghanistan was considered the place empires go to die
I always thought that was a silly piece of conventional wisdom, especially when people would say this while commenting on the fighting in Kandahar considering who Kandahar is named after, or the destruction of the Buddhist statues given who built those statues.
Empires that did not die in Afghanistan:
Achaeminid
Persian
Seleucid
Mauryan
Parthian
Ghaznavid
Mongol
Mughal
Timurid
I like your interpretation of the offer, Richard Aubrey. Can he shame the Muslim world into helping the Palis?
I doubt it, but it’s worth a try. Time will tell.
Demonstrate that there is no solution to the problem of the ‘Palis’? Leaving nothing but genocide on the table?