President Donald Trump doubled down on his pitch for the U.S. to takeover Gaza and said Palestinians would not have the right to move back.
The 78-year-old president was asked about his stunning call for the U.S. to control Gaza during his flight to the Super Bowl on Sunday.
Questions had mounted after his administration scrambled to clarify his suggestion last week.
‘I’m committed to buying and owning Gaza,’ Trump said on Air Force One.
But the president suggested as far as rebuilding, the U.S. could give sections to ‘other states in the Middle East’ to develop.
In a separate interview with Fox News, taped before the Super Bowl, Trump suggested the communities would be build ‘a little bit away from where they are where all of this danger is.’
‘Think of it as a real estate development for the future,’ he said. ‘It would be a beautiful piece of land,’ Trump told anchor Bret Baier.
But when Baier asked if Palestinians would have the right to return, Trump told him ‘no they wouldn’t because they’re going to have much better housing.’
He claimed he was talking about ‘building a permanent place for them’ but if they returned now, the area is not habitable.
President Trump speaking on Air Force One on Sunday said he was ‘committed to buying and owning Gaza’ and suggested it would then be rebuilt through other ‘very rich countries in the Middle East’
Speaking on Air Force One on Sunday, Trump once again called the strip a demolition site and declared what does remain will be demolished.
‘We’re committed to owning it, taking it, and making sure that Hamas doesn’t move back,’ he said.
‘We’ll make it into a very good site for future development by somebody,’ the president added.
Trump argued it would be beautiful and people could come live there from all over the world.
But he also vowed to take care of the Palestinians and make sure they ‘live beautifully and in harmony and in peace and that they’re not murdered.’
Displaced Palestinian families took shelter in tents near their damaged homes in the central Gaza Strip
His latest remarks come after Trump declared during a press conference last week, alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that the U.S. would take over Gaza.
Critics seized on the comments and accused Trump of calling for an ‘ethnic cleansing’ as leaders in the Middle East warned Palestinians would not be moved from their land.
Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill also rejected the U.S. takeover of Gaza and raised concerns over using U.S. tax dollars or putting Americans on the ground.
The White House scrambled to clarify less than 24 hours later suggesting Trump did not mean putting U.S. boots on the ground even though the president himself did not rule it out.
But Trump’s in-flight press conference raised further questions about how world leaders should address the region moving forward.
‘Think of it as a big real estate site, and the United States is going to own it, and we’ll slowly, very slowly, we’re in no rush, development it,’ Trump said.
‘We’re going to bring stability to the Middle East, a totally war-torn part of the Middle East,’ the president said.
Trump said it would be a ‘big mistake’ to let Palestinians return to the area as thousands have begun to travel back to the rubble left behind since a ceasefire deal was reached with Israel last month.
‘We don’t want Hamas going back,’ Trump warned.
Trump previously suggested both Egypt and Jordan would take the Palestinians in, but both countries rejected his resettlement proposal.
King Abdullah of Jordan is visiting the U.S. this week and will be meeting with Trump on Tuesday.
He also is meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, other administration officials and U.S. lawmakers.
Egypt announced it would host an emergency Arab summit on February 27 to discuss the developments.
