- US ‘ll Take Over Gaza And Do A Job With It — Trump
- Gaza is Our Right, lWe Can’t Be Dislodged– Abbas
By Kolawole Ojebisi
The fragile peace in the Middle East signalled by the ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Palestinian militant group, Hamas may soon be shattered with hostility likely to resume in the war-torn region.
This is as President Donald Trump of the the United States and his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmud Abbas, have started trading words over what should become of the vexed Gaza strip.
Trump, had on Tuesday, said the US might take over the Gaza Strip to “dismantle and develop it”.
Trump spoke at the Oval Office, during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who visited Washington on Tuesday.
Recall that Gaza has been reduced to rubble following the escalation of hostilities between Hamas, since October 7, 2023.
But reacting on deserted strip, Trump said, “Gaza is a hellhole.” Trump said he envisioned the US having a “long-term ownership position” over the strip, adding that it had the potential to be “the Riviera of the Middle East”.
“The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too,” he added.
Trump said everyone he has spoken to “loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land”.
“We’ll own it 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,” the former real estate developer added.
“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.”
Asked who would live on the strip, he replied: “The world’s people”.
Trump also floated the idea of sending US troops to the region. Netanyahu applauded Trump for his “history-changing” idea.
“And I think it’s really worth pursuing this avenue,” Netanyahu said.
Both leaders did not address whether it is legally permissible for the US to take over the territory.
Trump made these remarks hours before signing an executive order to withdraw the US from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Trump said Palestinians have no alternative but to leave Gaza.
But in a swift reaction on Wednesday, Palestinian president, Mahmud Abbas, rejected Trump proposal to “take over and own” the Gaza strip
“President Mahmud Abbas and the Palestinian leadership expressed their strong rejection of calls to seize the Gaza Strip and displace Palestinians outside their homeland,” Abbas’s office said in a statement, adding that “legitimate Palestinian rights are not negotiable”.
Reading the statement on Palestinian public television, Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina stressed that the Gaza Strip “is an integral part of the State of Palestine”.
The Palestine Liberation Organisation, an alliance of factions headed by Abbas, also condemned Trump’s proposal to relocate Gazans to Egypt or Jordan.
It rejected “all calls for the displacement of Palestinians from their homeland”, its secretary general, Hussein al-Sheikh, said.
