President Donald Trump says he wants US to 'take over' Gaza and resettle Palestinians | BBC News

begin with the extraordinary news conference in Washington where president Trump spoke of his plan for the US to take over Gaza what would be the most significant change in US policy towards the Middle East in decades addressing a news conference alongside the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Mr Trump said he believes the entire territory should be redeveloped and Palestinians rehomed elsewhere our state department correspondent Tom bitan reports ladies shoulder-to-shoulder with the isra leader president Trump set out his plan to in his language permanently resettle up to 2 million Palestinians out of Gaza and for the

US to take over the US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it to we'll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings level It Out Mr yahu defended the ideas saying the US president was an unconventional thinker he sees a different future for that piece of land that has been the focus of so much terrorism so much so many attacks against us so many so many trials and so

many tribulations he has a different idea and I think it it's worth paying attention to this but the proposals for Gaza with tens of thousands killed upend years of established US policy on the region and will be seen as flying in the face of international law Arab countries have categorically rejected what Palestinians will see as a plan for their expulsion Mr netanyahu's arrival at the White House came at a critical moment for the current phased Gaza truce but the president was asked repeatedly about his calls for Egypt and Jordan to take Palestinians permanently not only

does Mr Trump's proposal am to a fundamental shift in United States policy towards Israel and the Palestinians of unprecedented proportions but it could also have more immediate implications for the ceasefire and hostage release discussions nyaho you're a tyrant nearby protesters called for Mr netanyahu's trial at the international criminal court which last year issued a rest warrants for him his defense minister and a Hamas leader they called Mr Trump's idea a plan for ethnic cleansing Trump and his uh and his team can talk about um you know displacing Palestinians framing it as uh you know that

Gaza is a destruction site within this real estate rhetoric but at the end of the day nothing will stop the Palestinians from remaining on their lands being Mr Trump's first foreign guest was already an honor for the Israeli leader but it is the president's radical and highly contested plans for Gaza that are now sparking all the response Tom bman BBC News Washington well our correspondent in Washington KL nasman described the surprise with which president Trump's announcement was greeted I think you could probably hear some of the Jaws dropping over there in London I mean this

really does just represent a fundamental a drastic shift in US policy uh what we heard from Donald Trump there at that press conference you know saying to not only move nearly 2 million Palestinians potentially permanently out of that area but then for the US to in you know kind of redevelop this land and then own it in Donald Trump's words this is just so far away from what we've heard from previous presidents of course the last president uh President Biden was very clear about there needing to be a two-state solution in the region you walked

us through some of those critical reactions Saudi Arabia really a very important one we've also heard from H Hamas leadership um saying that plans to relocate gsin would uh be a recipe for chaos and tension in the region we've also heard from the UN Palestinian Ambassador saying uh similar words against this policy we've been hearing obviously a lot of reaction within the US politicians really sounding off nearly you know all Democrats who've spoken out about this H have been against it um and there's a few Republicans too Republican Senators um kind of criticizing this plan

one uh Josh Holly a Republican senator saying he didn't think it was the best use of United States resources to spend a bunch of money in Gaza and you know really there are a lot of questions here of course the legality of it in terms of international law is a big one but then you look at the US resources that it would take to you know pull off this kind of plan I mean and we could be talking about us military you know troops boots on the ground there and and that seems to fly in

the face of what Donald Trump's you know normal Global policy is which is America First he's really been reticent to involve the US in any sorts of of conflicts and this of course would if this were to happen would would bring the US much deeper into this conflict here well let question live now to Jerusalem and speak to our correspondents there yoland Nell so yoland just tell us what's the reaction there in the in the region to this plan by President Trump well there's a senior Israeli official who is quoted in the media this morning

saying this visit surpassed all of our expectations and dreams Trump raised ingenious solutions to problems that have been with Israel ever since it was first established uh there's a key far right figure itar benav who has been advocating um what he calls gazan migration um he is now asking the Israeli Prime Minister to take this up as official government policy and is encouraged by what he's heard is now suggesting also that the occupied West Bank could be emptied of Palestinians too of course there are many Israelis who recognize the dangers of what is being outlined

here and not least the families of hostages who remain in Gaza and now worried about what happens um with the ceasefire that was agreed by the Trump Administration acting as a key mediator um between Israel and Hamas on the Palestinian side a Hamas spokesman called uh the Trump proposal ridiculous and absurd pointing out it had the potential to ignite the region and what you know many Palestinians I've spoken to feel is that you know they are shocked they had had some hope after the ceasefire deal that President Trump um could send things into a different

direction a much more positive one they feel this is a sort of fundamental um and deliberate misunderstanding of what is at the heart of the Israel Palestinian conflict um you know competing claims over the same land um what is seen as being the holy land and and they completely dismissed the idea that you know any particular plot of land can be exchanged for another here your land thank you that's our Middle East correspondent your land now there in Jerusalem well let's stay in Jerusalem and speak to Herb Kanan senior contributing editor at the Jerusalem Post

thank you for joining us on BBC News so first of all how feasible is this plan from president Trump this would involve potentially the force dis displacement of gazin can that really happen look I think A wise man once said that uh with Donald Trump you you don't want to take him literally but you want to take him seriously and what does that mean in this context here it means Trump said that he wants to have a us protectorate over the Gaza stripped and he wants to to move them the gazin out is that literally

what's going to happen down the line I'm not sure but take him seriously in what he's doing and what he's doing is he is challenging the existing paradigms that have existed now for the last three decades that haven't worked right everybody's saying that well yet the only solution to the conflict here is a two-state solution with the Palestinian State and the capital in East Jerusalem he's saying no he's saying there are other Solutions other possibilities and I'm willing to look at those so what would those possibilities be because we understand the long-term plan for the

president is have an agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia is clear that deal won't happen unless there is a two-state solution well so he's he's throwing he's he's widening the canvas and he's saying there other there other options on the table one option is maybe the US will move in and take over you know take over Gaza Strip is this something that's going to happen tomorrow probably not but it's it's it's it's reshuffles the thinking it reshuffles the thinking as far as the Saudis saying that you know coming out and and and and

and saying that this is a nonstarter and they will only you know only be normalization if there's a Palestinian State I think you when when when the Saudis start to sit down with with Trump and they you know they discuss things and they look at the leverage that the that the Americans have as well that they they're attitudes might might change a bit so these are starting positions not necessar finishing positions but the main thing again I think the main importance here is that there are new ideas on how to look at the conflict the

president has spoken of himself as a peacemaker so the idea of having Gaza under American control potentially with American troops is that something that he would really back in the long term even look again it it's tough to say what we've seen historically with Trump is he puts out an idea he like he he he puts like a thousand elephants in the room at the end of the day he takes out 900 of those elephants but there's still 100 elephants in there that Chang the room and I think that's that's kind of the way to

look at it here as well um is you know is the final picture going to be us control of the Gaza Strip not clear but but something something has changed something's different there's a different way of looking at other possibilities and bringing in other perspectives herb Kanan from the Jerusalem Post thank you for showing your analysis here on BBC news thank you around the world and across the UK this is BBC News