Trump’s Proposal To Make Gaza the ‘Riviera of the Middle East’ Triggers International Condemnation

President Donald Trump’s plan for the United States to take over war-torn Gaza and create a “Riviera of the Middle East” after resettling Palestinians elsewhere has shattered American policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and triggered widespread criticism, Reuters has reported.

The shock move from Trump, a former New York property developer, was condemned swiftly by international powers. Regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia, which Trump hopes will establish ties with Israel, rejected the plan outright. Turkey called the proposal “unacceptable” and France said that it risked destabilizing the Middle East. Countries such as Russia, China, Spain, Ireland and the United Kingdom said that they continue to support the two-state solution that has formed the basis of Washington’s policy in the region for decades.

Trump, in his first major Middle East policy announcement, said that he envisioned building a resort where international communities could live in harmony after over 15 months of Israeli bombardment that has devastated the tiny coastal enclave, killed around 62,000 Palestinians and wounded 112,000 others, mainly civilians. Trump’s son-in-law and former aide, Jared Kushner, last year described Gaza as “valuable” waterfront property.

The casual proposal by Trump sent diplomatic shockwaves across the Middle East and around the globe. China said it opposed the forced transfer of Palestinians. “China has always believed that Palestinians governing Palestine is the basic principle of post-conflict governance,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian, adding that Beijing backs a two-state solution in the region.

Some of the toughest criticism came from France, which said that the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza would be a serious violation of international law, an attack on the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinians and would destabilize the region.

An official from Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, which won the last election held in the occupied Palestinian territories in 2006 and has been the de facto government in Gaza ever since, described Trump’s statement about taking over the enclave as “ridiculous and absurd.”

“Any ideas of this kind are capable of igniting the region,” Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters, saying that Hamas remains committed to the ceasefire accord with Israel and “ensuring the success of the negotiation in the second phase.”

It is not clear whether Trump will go ahead with his controversial plan or is simply taking an extreme position as a bargaining strategy. He provided no details about his plan, unveiled at a joint press conference on Tuesday with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is in Washington despite a warrant being issued by the International Criminal Court for his arrest.

Russia’s position is that an agreement in the Middle East is possible only with a two-state solution, the Kremlin said on Wednesday, while Spain’s Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said, “Gaza is the land of Gazan Palestinians and they must stay in Gaza.”

Amnesty International Executive Director Paul O’Brien said that displacing Palestinians from Gaza is “tantamount to destroying them as a people.”

The “riviera” announcement followed Trump’s shocking proposal earlier Tuesday for the permanent resettlement of the more than 2 million Palestinians from Gaza in neighbouring countries.

A U.N. damage assessment released in January showed that clearing more than 50 million tons of rubble left in Gaza after the war could take 21 years and cost up to $1.2 billion.

The U.S. taking a direct stake in Gaza would run counter to long-time policy in Washington and for much of the international community, which has held that Gaza would be part of a future Palestinian state that includes the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

“He’s totally lost it. … A U.S. invasion of Gaza would lead to the slaughter of thousands of U.S. troops and decades of war in the Middle East,” said U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. “It’s like a bad, sick joke.”

Trump’s proposal raises questions whether Middle East power Saudi Arabia would be willing to join a renewed U.S.-brokered push for a historic normalization of relations with Washington’s ally Israel. Saudi Arabia is a key U.S. ally, but it rejects any attempts to displace the Palestinians from their land, the Foreign Ministry in Riyadh said Wednesday. It added that the kingdom will not establish ties with Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state, contradicting Trump’s claim that Riyadh was not demanding a Palestinian homeland.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman has affirmed the kingdom’s position in “a clear and explicit manner” that does not allow for any interpretation under any circumstances, insisted Riyadh.

Trump would like Saudi Arabia to follow in the footsteps of the United Arab Emirates, a Middle East trade and business hub, and Bahrain, which each signed the so-called Abraham Accords in 2020 and normalized ties with Israel. In doing so, they became the first Arab states in a quarter of a century to break a longstanding taboo.

Trump said that he plans to visit Gaza, Israel and Saudi Arabia, but did not say when he plans to go. Netanyahu would not be drawn into discussing the proposal, other than to praise Trump for trying a new approach.

The Israeli leader, whose military has engaged in more than a year of fierce fighting Palestinians in Gaza, said Trump was “thinking outside the box with fresh ideas” and was “showing willingness to puncture conventional thinking.”

Displacement is a highly sensitive issue among both Palestinians and Arab countries. As fighting raged in Gaza, Palestinians feared that they would suffer another Nakba, or catastrophe, referring to the time when hundreds of thousands were dispossessed in the 1948 war at the birth of the state of Israel in their land.

“Trump can go to hell, with his ideas, with his money, and with his beliefs,” Samir Abu Basil, 40, a father of five from Gaza City, told Reuters. “We are going nowhere. We are not some of his assets. It’s easier for him if he wants to resolve this conflict to take the Israelis and put them in one of the states there [in America]. They are the strangers, not the Palestinians. We are the owners of the land.”