As the world reels from President Donald Trump‘s announcement that the United States will “take over” Gaza, resettling its residents in some undetermined country, it’s still unclear whether he’s being serious or setting the stage for negotiations.
Arab nations, to no surprise, have immediately rejected the idea.
Jordan and Egypt joined Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in writing to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, opposing plans to relocate Gazans. Other U.S. allies, including France, the United Kingdom, Turkey, and Germany also came out against the initiative.
But whether Trump is bluffing or serious, he’s making some good points. Most importantly, Palestinians who want to leave the demolished Gaza Strip should have the right to do so. Hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians have been trapped in a war zone where they’re now faced with trying to live in bombed out buildings or buildings set to explode. Giving them another choice would not only be humane but may prevent future rounds of conflict.
Much of the world has gotten used to blaming Israel for Gazans’ predicament. Even before the horrific Hamas slaughter of more than 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023, progressive groups called the strip an outdoor prison. But who, really, were the wardens? Hamas has brutalized Gazans for years, cynically using civilians as shields by building operating bases in hospitals and elementary schools. stealing aid to build tunnels and buy weapons rather than create jobs and develop the coastal enclave into anything near what Trump—facetiously or not—has envisioned as a new French Riviera. At last count, before Oct. 7, more than 45% of Gazans were unemployed, a situation that clearly has worsened after 15 months of outright war.
Throughout all this time, Arab nations had choices. They could have helped ensure the aid they gave was not diverted from the two million people who need it; they could have taken in refugees. They did neither, and now they complain that doing so would “destabilize” the region. That’s far from the truth.
Read the rest at Newsweek.
Joseph Epstein is a Senior Fellow at Yorktown Institute.
