“Shocked, but not surprised” should be the sensible reaction to Donald Trump’s bizarre idea to turn Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.
That an American president should advocate ethnic cleansing of an entire population, which is to say forcible removal, is obscene. That it should then be linked to some tawdry beach resort, no doubt with a vulgar Trump Tower hotel on the best spot, adds another distasteful dimension to Trump’s weird dream.
Like Lebanon in the old, prosperous days, it’s true that Gaza had development potential – but war, terror, Israel and the malign rule of Hamas ensured that that was never going to take place for the benefit of the Palestinian people. Dispossessed, relocated, dislocated, dehumanised, their homes bombed into a moonscape, they must fear that yet another catastrophe is about to be brought down upon them.
It’s something that has been on Trump’s mind for a time. He’s a real estate guy, after all (“Maybe the greatest”, as he would brag). A few days ago, before Netanyahu showed up, in one of his marathon decree-signing sessions, a reporter tossed him a question and he mentioned in passing what a prime location Gaza represents.
A year ago, his son-in-law, Jared Kushner returned from the region, voicing similar opinions. (In a clip widely circulating again on social media, Kushner is heard to say: “Gaza’s waterfront property, it could be very valuable… But I think from Israel’s perspective I would do my best to move the people out and then clean it up.”)
Don’t forget that Trump Tower in Manhattan is built on the site of a fine Art Deco department store that Trump had had an acquisitive eye on since childhood, and he never gave up on his ambition to tear it down and build his monument to bling. Some people call him a sociopath. He’s certainly determined.
Still, the Gaza scheme won’t happen. It’s just too much, even for him. Aside from being a crime against humanity, no one else supports it. Even, in fact, Americans, including the Maga cult, who cannot seriously want to see US service personnel trying to occupy Gaza. The experiences of Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan and other disastrous foreign interventions have surely put them off such a doomed and bloody enterprise.
There doesn’t seem to be anything in it for the Israelis, the occupying power and at the moment in control, or as much in control as they can be in such a turbulent place. Even Benjamin Netanyahu had a vaguely bemused expression on his face in their joint press conference as Trump rambled his way through his project, as if he was unveiling his scale model of the finest holiday resort in the world, inviting the press to envisage a Trump Vacations 10-day all-inclusive break in Khan Yunus.
The Egyptians and the Jordanians (who already have one of the highest per capita refugee populations on the planet) have rejected taking in a million Palestinians. The Saudi Arabians will not sign an Abraham Accord, ie peace treaty, with Israel in such circumstances, and will be less friendly to US interests generally if “Trump Plaza, Gaza” ever gets planning permission from the local US governor of the overseas territory.
Optimistically, and in line with our long experience of Trump, he may just be “throwing it out there” to see what happens. He doesn’t really have a plan for Gaza or the Middle East beyond wanting the wars to end, restraining Iran, and hoping his Abraham Accords initiative can somehow lower tensions and isolate the terrorists (which Hamas could see coming… and acted accordingly on October 7th).
That’s not how he rolls. He creates chaos, disrupts and seizes whatever opportunities it throws up. The various sides, even including the ayatollahs, have pressing cause to reconsider their options with the arrival of Trump and what was generously termed by his friend BiBi as his “thinking outside the box with fresh ideas” and “showing willingness to puncture conventional thinking”.
If we’re lucky, Trump’s outlandish and unspeakably cruel Gaza plan could add some urgency to the endless peace talks in Qatar, and pressure the entire region to start negotiating, and designing a more sustainable solution to the future of Palestine.
Maybe even, one can only hope, the Iranians will consider talking to America, as Kim Jong-un did when Trump went to North Korea. A Nobel Peace Prize for Donald Trump? It’s not as enticing as building the world’s best resort, but it might be an attractive alternative for Donald J Trump, that famously stable genius.