THE GUARDIAN: President’s plan, which critics said was ‘ethnic cleansing by another name’, would involve the permanent resettlement of Palestinians from Gaza to neighbouring countries
Donald Trump has vowed that the US will “take over” war-ravaged Gaza and “own it”, effectively endorsing the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, in an announcement shocking even by the standards of his norm-shattering presidency.
Trump, who has previously threatened Greenland and Panama and suggested that Canada should become the 51st state, added Gaza to his expansionist agenda, claiming that it could become the “Riviera of the Middle East”. He declined to rule out sending US troops to make it happen.
“The only reason the Palestinians want to go back to Gaza is they have no alternative,” the president told a joint press conference with Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, at the White House on Tuesday evening. “It’s right now a demolition site. This is just a demolition site. Virtually every building is down.”
Arguing that Palestinians could live out their lives in “peace and harmony” elsewhere, Trump continued: “The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it, too. We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site. » | David Smith in Washington | Wednesday, February 5, 2025
Welcome to Trumpworld, where the developer-in-chief sees dollar signs in the rubble of Gaza: In the White House’s venerable East Room, it became clear that Trump 2.0 is entering a dangerously expansionist phase »
THE NEW YORK TIMES:
Trump Proposes U.S. Takeover of Gaza and Says All Palestinians Should Leave: The president met with the Israeli prime minister at the White House, meeting in person with another world leader for the first time since returning to power. »
