Palestinians won’t have the right to return to rebuilt Gaza: Trump

Donald Trump told Fox News he would ‘own’ Gaza, saying Palestinians would get ‘much better housing’ in neighbouring countries.

Donald Trump says Palestinians wouldn’t be allowed to return to a rebuilt Gaza. Picture: AFP.

President Trump has said Palestinians wouldn’t have the right to return to Gaza under his new plan to rebuild the territory, adding in an interview with Fox News that they would get “much better housing” instead in neighbouring countries.

“In other words, I’m talking about building a permanent place for them because if they have to return now, it’ll be years before you could ever – it’s not habitable,” Trump said in the interview with Fox News’s Bret Baier that was conducted before Sunday’s Super Bowl. “It would be years before it could happen.”

The president’s latest comments come after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters last week that any Palestinian relocation would be temporary. She also said taxpayers wouldn’t cover the cost of developing the territory. Trump’s aides have tried to clarify the president’s plan after he surprised even some in his own White House when he announced it.

Asked by Baier in the weekend interview if displaced Palestinians would have the right to return to Gaza, Trump said, “No, they wouldn’t.”

Displaced Palestinians wait to cross a checkpoint manned by Egyptian and US security on Salah al-Din road in al-Mughraqa in the central Gaza Strip. Picture: AFP.

Trump’s proposal to take long-term control of Gaza, which he unveiled in a press conference standing next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has already caused some discord within the Republican Party, which has been largely united since the election. Several Republican politicians have expressed scepticism of the effort.

Major Middle East powers have rejected Trump’s plan. Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have rejected evictions, while the Palestinian Authority and Hamas say they wouldn’t support an evacuation of Gaza. Jordan’s King Abdullah is expected to meet with Trump at the White House on Tuesday. The president is expected to raise his Gaza proposal during the meeting, according to an administration official.

In the Fox News interview, Trump also appeared to suggest that Gaza would belong to him and compared it to a real-estate project.

“We’ll build safe communities, a little bit away from where they are, where all of this danger is,” he said. “In the meantime, I would own this. Think of it as a real-estate development for the future. It would be a beautiful piece of land. No big money spent.” On Air Force One on Sunday, Trump told reporters the U.S. would own it. “We’re going to bring stability to the Middle East,” he said.

“It’s a demolition site,” he added. “It’ll be reclaimed. It’ll be levelled out, fixed up. There won’t be anybody there. Hamas will be there.” The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for a comment on whether the president would personally own the territory or if Palestinians would be permanently displaced.

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