“The actual idea of allowing Gazans who want to leave to leave – I mean, what’s wrong with that? They can leave, they can then come back, they can relocate and come back. But you have to rebuild Gaza,” Netanyahu said in an interview on Fox News.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called for the United Nations to “protect the Palestinian people and their inalienable rights,” saying that what Trump wanted to do would be “a serious violation of international law.”
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Jordan’s Royal Court said in a statement that King Abdullah rejected “any attempts to annex land or displace the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank”. Abdullah is expected to meet Trump at the White House next week.
The United Arab Emirates also stressed its “categorical rejection of any infringement on the Palestinians’ unalienable rights, and any attempts at displacement”, as it called on world leaders to focus on addressing the root cause of the conflict and reaching a just and lasting peace.
While not explicitly criticising Trump, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told his parliament Palestinians wanted to go home to Gaza.
“They must be allowed home,” he said. “They must be allowed to rebuild, and we must be with them in that rebuild on the way to a two-state solution.”
The French Foreign Ministry reiterated the country’s opposition to the forced displacement of Gaza’s population, “which would constitute a serious violation of international law, an attack on the legitimate aspirations of Palestinians and also a major obstacle to the two-state solution and a factor of major destabilisation for our close partners, Egypt and Jordan, and the whole region”.
France said a third power must not control Gaza but form part of a future Palestinian state under the aegis of the Palestinian Authority, referring to the Fatah-controlled entity, which currently exercises partial control of the West Bank.
“Hamas must be disarmed and have no part in the territory’s governance,” it said.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the Gaza Strip belonged to Palestinians, and their expulsion would be unacceptable and contrary to international law.
“It would also lead to new suffering and new hatred … There must be no solution over the heads of the Palestinians,” she said.
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London-based publication Middle East Eye reported Jordan’s former deputy prime minister calling Trump’s announcement “unprecedented colonialism” and “a declaration of war on the Arab world”.
At his news conference, Trump claimed he had spoken with Middle Eastern leaders who “loved the idea” of a US takeover of Gaza but did not name them.
Leavitt said Trump had been “socialising” the idea for some time but would continue to talk to US allies in the region.
Her boss was “the best dealmaker on the planet”, she added. “He expects our partners, particularly Egypt and Jordan, to accept Palestinian refugees temporarily so we can rebuild their home.”
with Reuters, AP
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