The president of the United States, Donald Trump, suggested on Tuesday that the Palestinians displaced in Gaza were resettled “permanently” out of the territory devastated by the war.
Trump made the provocative comments at the beginning of his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the White House, where the two leaders are expected to discuss the fragile high fire and the hostage agreement in the conflict of Israelí-Ahamas.
“I don't think people come back,” Trump said. “You can't live in Gaza at this time. I think we need another location. I think it should be a place that will make people happy. “
Trump's comments occurred when he and the main advisors presented the case that a timeline of three to five years for the reconstruction of the territory devastated by the war, as established in a temporary truce agreement, is not viable .
The president has previously asked Egypt and Jordan to reap the Gazans. Both countries have flatly rejected such proposals.
But Trump said he believes that both countries, as well as other countries that he did not appoint, will finally agree to assume the Palestinians.
“You look during the decades, everything is death in Gaza,” Trump said. “This has been happening for years. Everything is death. If we can get a beautiful area to reassure people, permanently, in pleasant houses where they can be happy and not be killed and not be killed and not be killed to death as what is happening in Gaza. “
The White House approach in the future of the more than 2 million residents of Gaza occurs when the rising truce between Israel and Hamas hangs in balance.
Netanyahu faces a competitive pressure from his right -wing coalition to end a temporary truce against Hamas militants in Gaza and the Israelis tired of the war who want the remaining hostages at home and that the 15 -month conflict ends.
The leaders said that their conversations would cover a normalization agreement of Arabia Israel in Israel for a long time and shared concerns about Iran's nuclear program, as well as the second phase of the hostage agreement.
Trump continues to press for relocating the Palestinians of Gaza, even after both the Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah El-Sissi and King Jordano Abdullah II, ruled out the idea for the last time.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, the Palestinian authority and the Arab League also joined Egypt and Jordan to reject plans to remove the Palestinians from their territories in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
However, Trump may be betting on that he can persuade Egypt and Jordan to accept displaced Palestinians due to the important help that the United States provides to Cairo and Amman. The members of the right of the hard line of the Netanyahu government have adopted the call to move the displaced Palestinians of Gaza.
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“For me, it is unfair to explain to the Palestinians who could return in five years,” said Trump's Middle East, Steve Witkoff, journalists. “That is absurd.”
Trump also pointed out that he could be reconsidering an independent Palestinian state as part of a broader solution of two states for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict of decades. “Well, many plans change over time,” he told reporters when asked if he was still committed to a plan like the one he presented in 2020 that a Palestinian state required.
“There has been a lot of death since I left and now returned,” Trump said. “Now we face a situation that is different, somehow better and somewhat worse. But we face a very complex and difficult situation that we will solve. ”
The arrival of Netanyahu to Washington for the first foreign leader, the visit of Trump's second mandate occurs when Prime Minister's popular support is lagging behind.
The prime minister is in the mid -weeks testimony in an ongoing corruption trial that focuses on accusations that favors exchanged with rich media and associated magnates. He has denounced the accusations and said he is the victim of a “witch hunt.”
Being with Trump, which is popular in Israel, could help distract the public from trial and boost Netanyahu's position.
“We have Israel's right leader who has done a great job,” Trump said about Netanyahu.
Netanyahu also praised Trump's leadership to obtain the hostage agreement and high the fire. “I will only tell you, I am happy that they are here,” Netanyahu said about Trump and his administration.
It is Netanyahu's first trip outside Israel since the International Criminal Court issued arrest orders in November for him, his former Minister of Defense and the murdered military chief of Hamas, accusing them of crimes against humanity during the war in Gaza. The United States does not recognize the authority of the ICC over its citizens or territory.
Netanyahu met with the White House National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz and Witkoff, on Monday to start the discouraging work of negotiating the next phase of a high fire agreement.
Netanyahu said in a statement that the meeting with Witkoff and Waltz was “positive and friendly.”
The Israeli leader said he would send a delegation to Qatar to continue indirect conversations with Hamas that are being mediated by the Arab country of the Gulf, the first confirmation that these negotiations would continue. Netanyahu also said that he would convene his security cabinet to discuss Israel's demands for the next phase of Alto El Fuego when he returns to Israel at the end of the week.
Meanwhile, Witkoff said he plans to meet with Qatar's prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, in Florida on Thursday to discuss the next phase in Alto El Fuego. Qatar and Egypt have served as key intermediaries with Hamas throughout the conflict.
Netanyahu is under intense pressure from the members of the right of his ruling coalition to leave the ceasefire and resume the fight in Gaza to eliminate Hamas. Bezalel Smotrich, one of Netanyahu's key partners, promises to overthrow the government if the war is not relaunched, a step that could lead to early elections.
Hamas, who has reaffirmed the control over Gaza since the stop the fire last month, said he will not release hostages in the second endless phase of war and the total withdrawal of the Israeli forces. Meanwhile, Netanyahu argues that Israel is committed to victory over Hamas and the return of all hostages captured in the attack of October 7, 2023 that triggered war.
Einav Zangouker, whose son Matan is among the hostages, asked Trump to use US leverage to keep Netanyahu committed to the agreement.
Matan, 24, is among those who are expected to be included in the second phase of the agreement, when all the remaining living hostages, including men under 50 and male soldiers, must be exchanged for an yet to have a certain number of Palestinian prisoners. The second phase is also expected to include the complete withdrawal of the Israeli troops of Gaza.
“I want President Trump to know that there are certain extreme elements of the interior of Israel who are trying to torpedo his vision,” said Zangauker, who traveled to Washington from Israel to join a manifestation of Tuesday planned outside the White House. “We are representative of the vast and vast majority of Israel. The ultra ends are chanting the prime minister to make their tender. ”
The prime minister is also expected to use Trump Press to take decisive measures about Iran. Tehran has faced a series of military setbacks, including Israeli forces of degradation significantly of Hamas in the militants of Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as an operation that decimated the air defenses of Iran. The moment, believes Netanyahu, has created a window to decisively address Tehran's nuclear program.
Before his meeting with Netanyahu, Trump signed an executive order that said he would increase economic pressure on Iran.
“We will not allow them to have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.
Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press Melanie Lidman writer in Jerusalem contributed reports.