US President Donald Trump has said Palestinians would not have a right to return under his plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza.
Trump’s comments contradict other officials in his administration who have sought to argue he was only calling for the temporary relocation of Gaza’s population.
Less than a week after he floated his plan for the US to take control of Gaza and turn it in to “the Riviera of the Middle East”, Trump, in an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier that was set to air on Monday, said “no, they wouldn’t” when asked if Palestinians in Gaza would have a right to return to the territory.
It comes as he has ramped up pressure on Arab states, especially US allies Jordan and Egypt, to take in Palestinians from Gaza.
“We’ll build safe communities, a little bit away from where they are, where all of this danger is,” Trump 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.”
Trump’s proposal, which amounts to ethnic cleaning, has been fiercely condemned. And his latest words have been released a day before he is set to host Jordan’s King Abdullah II at the White House on Tuesday.
In addition to concerns about jeopardising the long-held goals of a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, Egypt and Jordan have privately raised security concerns about welcoming large numbers of additional refugees into their countries even temporarily.
After Trump’s initial comments last week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and secretary of state Marco Rubio insisted that Trump only wanted Palestinians relocated from Gaza “temporarily” and for an “interim” period to allow for debris removal and reconstruction.
Then, after Trump reiterated his position in favour of the war crime of forced displacement, Israel said it had begun preparations for the departure of large numbers of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
Trump last week also did not rule out deploying US troops to help secure the territory but at the same time insisted no US funds would go to pay for the reconstruction of Gaza, raising fundamental questions about the nature of his plan.
