Gaza Residents Sow Not To Leave Their Land: Trump Could Go To Hell With The Idea

Gaza/WHO DOK Condition

JAKARTA - Gazans criticized US President Donald Trump's plan to take over the Gaza Strip and recast Palestinians elsewhere.

They vowed never to leave the rubble of their homes in the coastal area Trump wants to convert to "Central East Riviera".

"Trump can go to hell, with his ideas, with his money, and with his belief. We're not going anywhere. We're not part of his assets," said Samir Abu Basel in Gaza City.

"If he wants to resolve this conflict, he should accept Israelis and place them in a state (in America). They are foreigners, not Palestinians. We are owners of this land," said the father of five, who fled his home near Jabalia on the northern edge of Gaza.

Trump had previously said he envisioned building a resort where the international community could stay after more than 15 months of Israeli bombings destroyed small enclave areas on the coast and killed more than 47,000 people, according to Palestinian calculations.

Gazans say after war and bombs failed to get them out of Gaza, Trump will not succeed in doing so.

"He talks very arrogantly. He can test us, and soon he will realize that his fantasy doesn't match ours," said Abu Basel.

As fighting raged in the Gaza war, Palestinians feared they would experience another "Nakba" or disaster, which was when hundreds of thousands of people lost their homes in the war that led to the founding of the Israeli state in 1948.

Now they are worried about another move.

"We will not leave our area, we will not allow the second Nakba. We have educated our children to teach them they must not leave the house and they must not allow the second Nakba," Um Tamer Jamal, a 65-year-old mother of six, told Reuters through a chat app.

"(Trump) is crazy. We didn't leave Gaza under bombing and hunger, how did he intend to expel us? We're not going anywhere," he said.