As far as bad ideas go, this was truly a stinker. Donald Trump, President of the most powerful country in the world, declared on Tuesday that the USA will take over the Gaza Strip, remake it into a seaside paradise, populate it with people from all over the world and, crucially and most controversially, displace the majority of its Palestinian residents.
For a man who has shocked the world so much with his actions and words since launching his first (successful) presidential bid a decade ago, this pronouncement was stunning.
Stunning for how tone deaf, blind, callous and reprehensible the USA can be when it comes to Palestinian rights in the face of outright Israeli aggression and even genocide. The Americans have shown that there is no low that they are unprepared to go in order to appease the Israelis, whether the party in power are the Democrats or Republicans. Worse might be to come as he has promised to make an announcement on his plans for the West Bank in four weeks’ time. What horrors await?
All the while he was expounding on his ridiculous idea for the Gaza Strip, Israeli PM and war crimes suspect Benjamin Netanyahu was standing next to him. Trump said that Gaza has been destroyed and is unfit for human habitation after the most recent war there. This was stated at a joint press conference with the man under whose authority that wanton destruction was carried out using, it should be pointed out, mostly American weapons and ordnance.
If Israel is not already guilty of genocide (international courts will decide that) Trump’s plan wants to make the USA complicit. To him, the idea of genocide does not occur. He seems to be approaching this as some sort of real estate deal, which is unsurprising as Trump considers himself (however delusional) to be a master deal maker and property developer.
His proposed ‘solution’ is anything but. Let us not even debate it – it is unworthy of merit whatsoever. That a people can be removed from their ancestral land, forcibly resettled elsewhere while their territory is repurposed as an international beach-side pleasure resort is disgusting. The idea has been roundly condemned by world leaders everywhere. Thank God some commonsense still exists.
But to Trump, nothing is off limits. He is already trying to tear up economic policies and treaties by slapping sanctions on numerous nations, the consequences of which could be devastating to the global economy. He worries not for the climate crisis, is blasé about the rights of minorities and immigrants, has pardoned those of his supporters who were convicted of storming the US federal legislature in 2021 and has appointed some disreputable people to his cabinet. And let us not forget his own legal troubles, which are too numerous to mention here. Four more years of him in charge is a frightening prospect.
