Recently, in a 20-minute press conference aboard Air Force One, President Trump voiced his desire to ‘clean out Gaza’ and have Jordan, Egypt, and other Arab nations take in the 1.5 million Palestinians with the intent to rebuild the Strip.
President Trump told the reporters, “I’d like Egypt to take people, and I’d like Jordan to take peopleโyou’re talking about probably a million and a half peopleโand we just clean out that whole [area]. It’s literally a demolition site right now. Almost everything is demolished, and people are dying there, so I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab Nations and build housing at a different location where they can maybe live in peace for a change.”
Trump’s vision for Gaza also emphasizes the eradication of Hamasโwhich is critically important.
The President noted that he sees Gaza as a “phenomenal location on the sea with the best weather [and] where beautiful things could be done.” He is right. The Palestinians could have achieved that themselves, but instead, they voted for Hamas to rule over them and the Gaza Strip. Once in leadership, the terrorist organization then squandered billions of dollars of international money. Rather than creating infrastructure to benefit their people (they could have created a Singapore on the Mediterranean), they used the money to build a massive tunnel network. Hamas turned the Strip into one of the largest terrorist playgrounds in the entire world โ all with the intention to bring about the destruction of Israel.
President Trump has a different plan moving forward.
One thing is for sure: there is not much to return to for the Gazan people. How do you rebuild? As Trump said, much of Gaza is a demolition site.
Additionally, relocating 1.5 million Palestinians comes with considerable pushback from the Arab nations. When asked whether Jordan, Egypt, or others would accept Gazans into their countries, Trump replied, “They will do it. They are gonna do it. We do a lot for them.” We will have to wait and see how this unfolds.
Relocating the Palestinians (especially to Jordan) is something that should have been done long ago.
When the Ottoman Empire was defeated by the Allies in World War I, Britain and France began to divide the region, which gave Independence to Iraq in 1932, Syria in 1943, and Lebanon in 1944. The British had the mandate to see that the Jewish people also received their independence, as stated in the Belford Declaration in 1917, which became international law in 1920 in San Ramone. Instead of fulfilling that mandate, Britain betrayed the Jewish people and carved out around 82% of the land that was set for a Jewish State (in the ancestral Homeland of the Jewish people), giving it to the Hashimite kingdom of trans-Jordan, which is now called Jordan. In reality, most Palestinians have Jordanian passports.
I agree with President Trump’s vision of relocating the Palestinians. Let us not forget that Gaza turned into a terrorist state, not a land living in peace with Israel. The Palestinians are not interested in borders. Instead, their focus is eradicating the very existence of Israel. They want the land in its entirety. They seek to be true to their Mantra, “from the river to the sea (from the Jordan to the Mediterranean), Palestine will be free.”
Let us also remember what God has said concerning the land of Israel. Ultimately, it is God who has ownership of the land, and He has given it to His chosen people, the Jewish people, as an everlasting possession.
In Leviticus 25:23, we read, “The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine”โthat is what God says about His land.
Additionally, in Joel 3:1-2 God says, “For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.” This verse is a warning to the Arab nations, the Palestinians, and ultimately, it is a warning to the entire world.
