Lebanon today »Trump’s plan on Gaza … did he mean what he said?

The British newspaper “The Guardian” reported that “at the end of his meeting at the White House with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump announced that the United States should control the Gaza Strip and permanently remove 2.2 million of its Palestinian residents to resettle them in Places like Egypt and Jordan. Trump said the United States “will own it and be responsible for it.” He added: “We will take over the sector and its influence”, and there will be “unlimited numbers of jobs and housing” for “the people of the region”, although it did not specify who this people are. He added that Gaza will become “Rvira Middle East.”

According to the newspaper, “This constituted another potential blow to the area that has suffered from the massacre and destruction since the terrible attack by Hamas on Israel in October 2023, which sparked 16 months of Israeli attacks on Gaza. It is not surprising that this will be met immediately by rejecting one of the main players. Within hours, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia rejected the Palestinian displacement plan, stressing that it will not establish diplomatic relations with Israel without establishing a Palestinian state. It is difficult to imagine where to lead the fragile ceasefire currently taking place between Hamas and Israel. The negotiations on the second phase of the ceasefire agreement will start next week, with the participation of the United States, Israel, Hamas, Egypt and Qatar, and their declared goal is to agree on more prisoners and hostages exchanges, extend the current limited truce in an indefinite time, and reach an agreement On who will rule Gaza. ”

The newspaper continued, “Trump’s statements are aimed at this last part of the second stage negotiations in the vacuum, and they also disrupt the rest of the operation. But the risks are very high, as the war between Israel and Hamas may be resumed within weeks if an agreement is not reached. This is the result that Netanyahu may prefer, the undisputed beneficiary of Trump’s recklessness, because it will maintain the cohesion of his divided government. The right -wing parties in Israel, some of which are Gaza, will see part of Israel in any case, Trump’s statements are a turning point in their favor, with the consequent effects on the West Bank as well. As for the Palestinians, they will consider this as a betrayal.

The newspaper added, “Trump’s statements were surprised by the United States and the world, but it did not come from a vacuum. Before returning to the White House, Trump was making similar statements from time to time. Immediately after its inauguration in January, Gaza said as a “huge demolition site.” He added: “It is a great location on the sea, the weather is great. As you know, everything is fine. ” At that time, it seemed as if Trump, the real estate expert businessman who was speaking and not US President Trump. In fact, it will be a mistake to believe that it is not serious at some point. Just last week, Trump sent his envoy to the Middle East, Steve Whitchov, who is a specialist in real estate, to make the first visit to Gaza by a US official since the beginning of the war.

According to the newspaper, “No one should reduce the importance of deception and dispersal in the current Trump storm on multiple topics in addition to the Middle East. However, for a president who took office in 2017, who did this again after eight years, and pledged on both occasions to put the United States in the first place, the statements on Tuesday constitute an amazing shift with severe consequences if it became a reality. Since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, American foreign policy has been visited in interference, engagement and occupation, especially in the Middle East. At that time, the American forces have sometimes played major roles in conflicts that extended from Libya to Syria, to Afghanistan, but Trump’s international virtual position has always been removing the American forces from the fire line, as others demanded to intensify their obligations. But on Tuesday, Trump seemed open to the idea of ​​deploying American forces to impose his idea of ​​the occupation of Gaza.

The newspaper continued, “The American forces may be responsible for attempts to remove the Palestinians by force. It is difficult to imagine that such an operation, which challenges international law without shame, will not involve the American forces in confrontations and in their ranks. In other words, this is exactly the type of external participation that Trump has always said. But Trump’s second state is already different. It is very clear that he started speaking in imperialism. He threatened to seize Greenland, restore the Panama channel, annex Canada, rename the Gulf of Mexico, and now take over Gaza. Next week, the Palestinians may be transferred to Newfandland and Labrador (a province in Canada).

The newspaper saw that “the decisive question here is whether any of this was serious, especially since Trump said:” This was not a decision taken lightly. ” However, the decision lacks the details and is not understood by its nature as an actual policy, and may even not even assert the certainty that one American soldier will serve in Gaza or that one US dollar will invest in developing the waterfront there. Moreover, the seriousness of this talk may come in various forms, as Trump’s second presidency appears. The US President may not really want to occupy Gaza at all, but the fact that he said he may do so is in itself a fact that reshapes other facts in the Middle East and in American domestic politics.

The newspaper continued, “In less than three weeks since he performed the oath, Trump has proven to be more intelligent than he was in chaotic conditions often for his first mandate. In a political culture dominated by social media instead of the legislative and legal process, giving the impression is actually more powerful and more implemented immediately than the accurate policy industry preferred by governments such as the British Kiir Starmer government.

The newspaper concluded, “Perhaps Trump does not provide much materially to the millions who voted for him, but his ability to persuade them that he does this highlights the future of politics.”