Egypt and Jordan have both rejected the suggestion by US President Donald Trump that Gaza should be “cleaned out” and what remains of its pre-war population of 2.3 million moved to the two neighbouring countries.
Trump, who first mooted the idea on Sunday, repeated it on Monday while on board Air Force One as he responded to a question about whether the remaining inhabitants of Gaza would be displaced in the short or long term. Trump reiterated that he would “like to get [Palestinians from Gaza] living in an area where they can live without disruption and revolution and violence so much”.
Israeli media reported that US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff discussed the idea with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
According to reports on Israeli public radio, Witkoff pressed Netanyahu to remove whatever political obstacles remained that could derail the three stages of the ceasefire deal agreed between Israel and Hamas earlier this month. They also discussed the suggestion that Gaza’s population be displaced to Egypt and Jordan.
Advertisement
While no official details of the meeting were released, senior officials later told Channel 13 news they had “got the impression that the Americans are serious about this idea, that it’s not just talk”.
This is not the first time Trump has made pronouncements about his desire to shake up the world’s geography.
In addition to his comments on Gaza, he has suggested that the territory of Greenland be annexed by the US, the Panama Canal be taken back under US control and the Gulf of Mexico be renamed the Gulf of America.
However, after 15 months of relentless aerial bombardment and ground invasions by Israel, resulting in the killing of some 47,354 people, the injuring of 111,563 and the destruction of approximately 60 percent of all housing in the enclave, it is in Gaza where Trump’s latest idea stands to have the greatest humanitarian impact.
What has been the response to Trump’s idea for Gaza?
Almost everyone outside Israel, including Egypt, Jordan, the UN and Palestinian leaders, has rejected the idea.
Egypt
On Wednesday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi told a news conference, “Regarding what is being said about the displacement of Palestinians, it can never be tolerated or allowed because of its impact on Egyptian national security.”
“The deportation or displacement of the Palestinian people is an injustice in which we cannot participate,” he told reporters.
Advertisement
Claims from the US president that he had discussed the matter with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi were also dismissed as false by the Egyptian State Information Service.
Jordan
Jordan has likewise condemned the plan, with King Abdullah II stressing during meetings in Brussels with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola and European Council President Antonio Costa, the importance of Palestinians being able to remain on their own land.
Palestinian leadership
Palestinian leaders also rejected the idea.
Mahmoud Abbas, the nominal leader of the Palestinian Authority, condemned “any projects” intended to displace the people of Gaza outside of the enclave, while Hamas leaders, who oversee Gaza, told news agency AFP that Palestinians would “foil such projects”, as they have done to similar plans “for displacement and alternative homelands over the decades”.
United Nations
The UN, which maintains support for the two-state solution set down in the Oslo Accords of the 1990s, also responded strongly to the notion of moving Palestinians to neighbouring states.
During a news conference on Monday, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarri also rejected Trump’s plan, telling reporters, “We would be against any plan that would lead to the forced displacement of people, or would lead to any type of ethnic cleansing.”
Advertisement
Other countries
In addition to those directly involved, a number of other states have also been critical of Trump’s plan to relocate Gaza’s population, including Germany, whose leader, Olaf Scholtz, dismissed the suggestion as “unacceptable”.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot also dismissed the idea, telling France’s parliament on Tuesday that the US president’s suggestion was “absolutely unacceptable”.
Spain, one of the two states within the EU to recognise the state of Palestine, also condemned the notion, with Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares telling the media outlet EuroNews that “Gaza belongs to the Palestinians and the people living in Gaza”.
The Arab League also forcefully opposed the plan, issuing a statement on Monday, stating, “The forced displacement and eviction of people from their land can only be called ethnic cleansing.”
Who supports Trump’s idea of moving Palestinians into neighbouring states?
Many right-wing Israelis.
The idea of removing Palestinians from Gaza and replacing them with Israelis has been popular among a significant portion of Israelis ever since the initial illegal Israeli settlements were removed from Gaza in 2005.
It took on new relevance in the eyes of many following the Hamas-led attack from Gaza on southern Israel on October 7 2023, which killed 1,139 people.
A conference, held in Jerusalem in January 2024 and titled Settlement Brings Security, drew 12 cabinet ministers, including the ultra-Zionist minister of finance, Bezalel Smotrich, and the far-right former minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir. Both took part in discussions centred around Palestinians’ “voluntary” migration from Gaza and its subsequent resettlement by Israelis.
Advertisement
Along with other right-wing ministers, both Ben-Gvir and Smotrich welcomed Trump’s suggestion of moving Palestinians to neighbouring states this week. Smotrich told reporters on Monday that he was already drawing up an “operational plan” to turn Trump’s idea into an actionable Israeli policy.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to comment publicly on Trump’s suggestion. However, many observers have interpreted his recent invitation to the White House, the first international leader to be asked, as an indication of the level of support Trump intends to extend to Israel, despite the numerous charges of war crimes and allegations of genocide against the state over its war on Gaza.
Is Trump’s suggestion even legal?
No.
“The proposal to relocate Palestinians from Gaza to neighbouring states smacks of forced displacement, which would violate international humanitarian law,” Michael Becker, a professor of international human rights law at Trinity College in Dublin, who previously worked at the International Court of Justice, told Al Jazeera.
Becker added that Trump’s suggestion, if acted upon, could also clear the ground for Israel’s subsequent annexation of Gaza, an act that Becker said would constitute “a violation of the bedrock prohibition of the acquisition of territory by force”.
Advertisement
“International courts have also found that whether a population transfer constitutes forced displacement depends on whether people have a genuine choice in the matter,” Becker added. “This means that even if some Palestinians might appear to consent to relocation, this would not necessarily make their displacement lawful.”
Is that enough to stop any plan to move Palestinians from being enacted?
Probably not.
The US remains the world’s most powerful state, with many within the international community dependent upon it for trade and, in some cases, defence.
Even the UN, which has criticised Trump’s comments, receives 22 percent of its annual budget – not including the cost of peacekeeping – from Washington.
Even if the US wasn’t one of the globe’s most powerful states, there is no mechanism to prevent it from breaching international law, Leila Alieva of the Oxford School for Global and Area Studies said, pointing to the failure of both the UN and the International Criminal Court (ICC) to restrain Russian action in Ukraine.
“I would say that unprecedented public opinion this time could be a factor,” Alieva said, although adding the caveat that, within Europe only three states – Ireland, Spain and Norway – recognise Palestine, and that Trump may simply not care about others.
