One of the special privileges of being the president of the United States is that people have to take what you say seriously, no matter how bananas. So it is with President Donald Trump’s suggestion that Washington facilitate the ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip and then, when that task is accomplished, own the territory. The conflict between Israelis and Palestinians needs new ideas, and Gaza, in particular, presents a set of extremely difficult problems, but Trump’s proposal is not just morally bankrupt—it is sheer lunacy.
Where to begin?
The president insists that world leaders, and even those within the region, support such a plan. Who? The Saudis issued a statement not long after Trump appeared with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterating their support for a two-state solution. The governments in Egypt and Jordan categorically reject the idea of transferring Palestinians to their territory, even at the risk of US largesse. Not even Israeli settlers would support this plan, if only because, in their religious-nationalist messianism, they want to resettle Gaza, not allow American developers to build high-end hotels there.
Yet Trump persists, insisting that “people” support his plan. He might just be riffing off a late-night phone call with pals from Mar-a-Lago. The danger here is that in response to the well-deserved storm of criticism, Trump feels the need to prove everyone else wrong and make ethnic cleansing and neocolonialism a policy of the United States in the Middle East.
Then, of course, there is the question of feasibility. No doubt, US armed forces can take over the Gaza Strip, though it certainly would come at the cost of American lives. Despite Israel’s best efforts, Hamas remains well-armed and lethal. Does the president expect Hamas’s fighters to go quietly into the Sinai Peninsula? That’s a rhetorical question.
