Yesterday President Trump announced that he wants to move displaced Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza to neighboring Middle East countries, such as Jordan and Egypt.
During a White House press conference Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said “The U.S. will take over the Gaza strip. And we will do a job with it too. We’ll own it.”
Along with this, Trump made claims that Palestinians would be happier elsewhere, stating “They live like you’re living in hell. Gaza’s not a place for people to be living. And the only reason they want to go back, I believe this strongly, is because they have no alternative. What’s the alternative? Go where? There’s no other alternative. They’d much rather not go back to Gaza and live in a beautiful alternative that’s safe.”
Netanyahu echoed this idea.
Laurie Brand, a retired USC professor in international relations and an expert on the Middle East and North Africa, has a different take on this proposal.
“There are Palestinian engineers,” Brand said. “There are Palestinians who own construction companies. There’s plenty of labor. Palestinians want to rebuild their homes...So Trump seems to be proceeding according to a logic that either they have no will, or their will doesn’t matter, or that they just would think what he’s suggesting is wonderful anyway.”
The displacement of Palestinians is not a new issue. In 1947, The United Nations partitioned Palestine into two states, Israel and Palestine, following a mass migration of European Jews escaping persecution in the 1930s. The most recent violence began in October 2023, after Hamas militants attacked Israel, and Israel retaliated with continuing air strikes in Gaza.
Brand recognizes this: “Palestinians have put up fierce resistance to other attempts over the years to try and displace them. There’s no reason to suggest that they wouldn’t do the same now,” she said.
A recent Israeli poll suggests a majority of Israelis support Trump’s plan, but a poll from last year indicated that only a quarter of Palestinians have considered emigrating -- contrary to Trump’s claims about their willingness to go.
Asked in a press conference this week if he would try to forcibly remove the Palestinian people, Trump replied, “I don’t think they’re going to tell me no.”
Brand said if Trump tries to force them to leave their home, he will be violating international law.
“He’s basically completing the ethnic cleaning that has been underway,” she said.
As to whether other countries would even be willing to take in thousands of Palestinian refugees -- it’s not looking good for Trump. So far, Jordan and Egypt have made it clear that they do not plan on peacefully accepting refugees. Egypt’s foreign ministry issued a statement this week saying it supports Palestinians staying on their land.