President Donald Trump said Palestinians wouldn’t be permitted to return to Gaza as part of his plan for the U.S. to take ownership of the war-torn territory.
In a pre-taped interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier, a clip of which was released Monday, Trump was asked about his proposal to “own” and rebuild Gaza, first announced last week during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House.
“We’ll build beautiful communities for the 1.9 million people. We’ll build beautiful communities, safe communities — could be five, six, could be two, but we’ll build safe communities a little bit away from where they are, where all of this danger is,” Trump said in the interview, a portion of which aired before the Super Bowl on Sunday. More clips from the interview will air Monday night.
Trump continued, “In the meantime, I would own this — think of it as a real estate development for the future. It would be a beautiful piece of land.”
Asked if Palestinians would have the right to return to the land, Trump said, “No, they wouldn’t because they’re going to have much better housing, much better.”
During his initial announcement last week, Trump said that Palestinians and “many people” would be able to live in Gaza after the U.S. took ownership of it.
He said, “I envision the world people living there, the world’s people. You’ll make that into an international unbelievable place. I think the potential in the Gaza strip is unbelievable,” and it could be “the Riviera of the Middle East.”
Trump told Baier he wants to build a permanent residence for the million Palestinians currently living in Gaza, which he said is not currently habitable after the 16-month-long war between Hamas and Israel.
“I’m talking about starting to build and I think I could make a deal with Jordan. I think I could make a deal with Egypt. You know, we give them billions and billions of dollars a year,” he said, implying that he could try to build a permanent home for Palestinians in those two Arab countries.
The feasibility of this plan is unclear: Hamas, which governs the region, has said it will not turn over control. Officials from Egypt and Jordan have also repeatedly refused to accept Palestinian refugees from Gaza, arguing that the transfer of large numbers of refugees into their countries could risk the conflict expanding even further across the region.
The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Previous U.S. administrations under both Republican and Democratic presidents have supported proposals for a two-state solution in which Palestinians would be able to create their own sovereign state, but that has been rejected by key members of the Trump administration.
Trump’s current nominee for the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has said that a Palestinian state is very unlikely under Trump. The president’s former ambassador to Israel during his first term, David Friedman, has also expressed opposition to a two-state solution. Friedman had supported efforts by Israel to operate settlements in the West Bank, which Democratic administrations have rejected.
During his first term, Trump changed U.S. policy by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Those moves and the settlements have long been viewed as obstacles in the peace process.
