• US President Donald Trump’s announcement of a plan to take over the Gaza Strip and forcibly expel its Palestinian population was met with widespread outrage, with even the US closest allies rejecting the idea as unacceptable and illegal.

• During a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Trump said: “We’ll own it [the Gaza strip] and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings, level it out. Create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area … do a real job, do something different. We will build a riviera in the Middle East. We will make sure that it is done world-class. It will be wonderful for the people [...] We’re going to give people a chance to live in a beautiful community that will be safe [...] I have a feeling that, despite everything, the king of Jordan and the general in Egypt will open their hearts and give us the kind of land that we need to do this... I’ve talked to other leaders in the Middle East and they like the idea. They say it would really bring stability.”

• Stunned, President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas commented: “Peace and stability cannot be achieved in the region without the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.”

• Saudi Arabia has expressed its "unequivocal rejection" of plans to replace the Palestinians and has explicitly ruled out a normalization pact with the Israeli state without an independent Palestinian state.

• While Egypt has cautiously called for “the reconstruction of Gaza without the Palestinians leaving,” the state media has not had harsh enough words against this “colonial project.”

• Jordan’s King Abdullah II has “rejected any attempt to annex land and displace Palestinians.” The next day, in the presence of the crown prince and members of his government, he received President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas to express his support for the Palestinians.

• The Arab League stressed that the fundamental principles of the Palestinian cause will remain a “coherent and unwavering point of consensus” throughout the Arab world. “The occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip together constitute the territorial foundation of the future Palestinian State in the context of a two-state solution, without any separation between the two or violation of the rights of the Palestinian people, whose continued presence on their lands remains the cornerstone of their just cause.”

• Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan called the plan “unacceptable.”

• China recalled that it has “always maintained that ’only the Palestinians govern Palestine’ is the fundamental principle of the governance of Gaza after conflicts. We oppose the forced displacement of the people of Gaza, and we hope that the parties concerned will seize the opportunity of the ceasefire and post-conflict governance in Gaza to bring the Palestinian issue back on the right track towards a political settlement based on the two-State solution, in order to achieve lasting peace in the Middle East.”

• UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk stressed that “Any forcible transfer or expulsion of people from occupied territories is strictly prohibited.” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said: “In the search for solutions, we must not make the problem worse. It is vital to remain true to the foundation of international law. It is essential to avoid any form of ethnic cleansing. Any lasting peace will require tangible, irreversible and permanent progress towards the two-State solution, the end of the occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian State, with Gaza as an integral part.”

• White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt tried to set the record straight, clarifying that Washington would not be financing the reconstruction of Gaza, and that there was no question of sending boots on the ground.

☞ The idea of applying in Palestine the model chosen by US President Andrew Jackson to end the Indian wars does not take into account the cultural differences between the Cherokees, for whom the land belongs to all, and the Arabs, for whom, on the contrary, the land is part of the identity of a people.

However, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) had considered abandoning Palestine and governing Jordan (Black September, 1970-71), Lebanon (1973-83), or even emigrating to Tunisia (1983).

US president Ronald Reagan, for his part, had already considered a deportation, not only of Gazans, but of all Palestinians, to Egypt and Jordan (1983).

The issue will be at the center of the indirect talks between Hamas and the State of Israel in Washington.

☞ The idea of turning Gaza into a Middle Eastern riviera is not a whim of Jared Kushner, it was first put forward in 1993 by then Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Shimon Peres, who spoke of making Gaza the "Singapore of the Middle East." In January 2024, then Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Israel Katz had also presented to the European Council a project (see VIN 0300), just as unusual but on a smaller scale, for a seaside resort on an artificial island off the coast of Gaza.

This is the editorial from our paywalled "Voltaire, international newsletter", n°119. For more information, do not hesitate to subscribe: 500€ per year.

Translation
Gregor Fröhlich