President Trump Proposes Permanent Transfer Of Gazans, Rejects Jewish Settlements

PM Netanyahu with President Trump. (Twitter/@IsraeliPM)

JAKARTA - United States President Donald Trump proposed permanent transfer of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, but rejected the construction of Jewish settlements there, when he received Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Tuesday.

President Trump welcomes Prime Minister Netanyahu to discuss the fragile future of the Gaza ceasefire, a strategy to fight Iran and hopes for a new push for the agreement to normalize Israel-Saudi Arabia.

Calling Gaza a 'dismantling location', President Trump repeated his call to Jordan, Egypt and other Arab countries to accept Gazans.

He said Palestinians in the enclave had no choice but to leave the area which had to be rebuilt after nearly 16 months of war.

"That is the location of the demolition," President Trump said.

"If we can find the right piece of land, or a lot of land, and build a very good place for them with a lot of money in the area, that's for sure. I think it would be much better than returning to Gaza," he explained.

"I don't know how they (Palestinians) can stay," President Trump replied when asked about the reaction of Palestinian and Arab leaders to his proposal.

With Netanyahu beside him in the Oval Room, Trump then made a similar statement but suggested that Palestinians leave Gaza forever "in a nice home and where they can be happy and not be shot, not killed."

"They won't want to return to Gaza," he said.

President Trump did not provide details on how the re-residential process could be implemented, but his proposal echoed Israel's right-wing desire and contradicted former President Joe Biden's commitment to the mass transfer of Palestinians.

Some human rights defenders have likened President Trump's idea to ethnic cleansing.

The forced expulsion of Gaza's population is likely to be a violation of international law and will be strongly opposed not only in the region, but also by Washington's allies in the West.

On the same occasion, President Biden said he did not support the construction of Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip.

"I didn't see that happening," he said, quoted by The Times of Israel.

"It's too dangerous for people. Nobody wants to be there. Their fighters don't want to be there. Their soldiers don't want to be there," he continued.

The construction of Israeli settlements in Gaza was echoed by far-right coalition partners of the Prime Minister Netanyahu Administration.