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THE DAMAGE OF TRUMP’S GAZA PLAN HAS ALREADY BEEN DONE  
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Meron Rapoport
February 7, 2025
972 Magazine
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_ The proposal to cleanse Gaza of Palestinians tapped into a deep
undercurrent in Israeli society — endangering any chance for a
peaceful future in the region. _

A large billboard posted by the Ayalon highway in Tel Aviv, in
support of U.S. President Donald Trump, Feb. 5, 2025, Miriam
Alster/Flash90

 

In September 2020, toward the end of his first term as president,
Donald Trump oversaw the signing of the Abraham Accords
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UAE, and Bahrain on the White House lawn. The deals, to which Sudan
and Morocco would also become parties in the months to follow, were
proclaimed as “peace agreements,” but it would have been more
accurate to label them “agreements to sideline the Palestinian
people.” Their goal was not to create peace — there was no war
between these states in the first place — but rather to establish a
new regional reality in which the Palestinian liberation struggle
would be marginalized and ultimately forgotten.

The four and a half years that followed have been the bloodiest in the
history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Half a year after the
agreements were signed, Israeli forces attacked Ramadan worshippers at
Al-Aqsa Mosque and moved to evict Palestinian families from the Sheikh
Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem, triggering a barrage of Hamas
rockets from Gaza and an eruption of intercommunal violence between
Jews (backed by
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soldiers and police) and Palestinians that engulfed the entire land
between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River for the first time
since 1948. 2022 and 2023 saw record numbers
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Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers, as well as
a spike
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attacks on Israelis. Then came October 7, the ultimate proof that
trying to sideline the Palestinian struggle is like ignoring a highway
divider: it ends in a fatal collision.

Whether or not Trump understands this, his new approach essentially
says: if we can’t bypass the Palestinians, let’s expel them. “I
heard that Gaza has been very unlucky for them,” he said
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a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu earlier this week, adding that it would therefore be best if
the entire population of the Strip moved to a “good, fresh,
beautiful piece of land.”

One of the first criteria by which the idea has been examined is its
feasibility. By this measure, it obviously fails. The chances that
more than 2 million Palestinians — most of them refugees or
descendants of refugees from the Nakba of 1948, who for 75 years have
remained in refugee camps in Gaza rather than leave their homeland —
would now agree to leave it are close to zero.

The likelihood that countries like Jordan or Egypt would accept even a
fraction of that population is equally slim, as such a move could
destabilize their regimes. And the idea that the United States, after
putting an end to long, expensive, and deadly occupations in Iraq and
Afghanistan, would now be willing to “own” Gaza, govern it, and
develop it seems just as far-fetched.

But this plan is worse than the sum of its parts. Even if it does not
advance even by an inch, it has already had a profound impact on
Jewish-Israeli political discourse. Indeed, it would perhaps be more
accurate to say that Trump’s proposal has tapped into a deep
undercurrent in Jewish-Israeli society.

[U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in Washington D.C., February 4,
2025. (Liri Agami/Flash90)]
[[link removed]] U.S.
President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu at the White House in Washington D.C., February 4, 2025.
(Liri Agami/Flash90)
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu at the White House in Washington D.C., Feb. 4, 2025. (Liri
Agami/Flash90)

Standing alongside Trump at the press conference, Netanyahu was the
first to welcome the president’s initiative. “This is the kind of
thinking that can reshape the Middle East and bring peace,” he
proclaimed. To nobody’s surprise, the leaders of Israel’s
messianic right were also quick to express their own glee at the
proposal, treating Trump’s press conference as if it were divine
revelation. But they were far from the only ones.

Benny Gantz, who quit the government
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the direction of the war in Gaza, described
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plan as “creative, original, and interesting.” Yair Lapid, head of
the centrist Yesh Atid party, called
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“good for Israel.” Yair Golan, leader of the Zionist-left
Democrats party, merely commented
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impracticality. It was as if politicians across the Zionist spectrum
had simply been waiting for the moment when ethnic cleansing would
receive a “Made in America” stamp of approval before embracing it.

This transferist poison will not be purged from Israel’s bloodstream
anytime soon. And the consequences could be catastrophic for the
entire region.

No incentives for negotiations

Even without American boots on the ground, the feeling that Israel has
stumbled upon a historic opportunity to empty the Gaza Strip of its
Palestinian inhabitants will give enormous momentum to the demands of
Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, who are urging Netanyahu
to blow up the ceasefire
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it reaches its second phase, conquer Gaza
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and rebuild Jewish settlements
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the Strip. Netanyahu, who appeared somewhat embarrassed by Trump’s
bluntness, himself favors
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idea of “thinning out” Gaza’s population and may well give in to
these demands, especially amid fears that he could lose his coalition.

As for the Israeli army, a senior official was quoted
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news site Ynet calling Trump’s initiative “an excellent idea.”
Meanwhile, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories
(COGAT), the army body responsible for overseeing humanitarian affairs
in Gaza and the West Bank, has already begun
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If, for instance, Egypt refuses to allow the Rafah Crossing to be used
to facilitate Gaza’s ethnic cleansing, the army can open other
routes “from the sea or land and from there to an airport to
transfer the Palestinians to destination countries.”

Even if the ceasefire does proceed into phases two and three, the
hostages are all released, the army withdraws from Gaza, and a
permanent ceasefire is achieved, Trump’s plan will not disappear
from Jewish-Israeli politics. What incentive would any government or
party have to push for a political agreement with the Palestinians if
the Jewish public sees their expulsion as a viable alternative? Every
agreement, every ceasefire, might come to be seen as nothing more than
a temporary step toward the ultimate goal of mass transfer. The
possibilities for effective Jewish-Palestinian political cooperation
will shrink significantly.

And why stop with Gaza? There’s no particular reason Trump’s
proposal couldn’t be expanded to Palestinians in the West Bank —
an area which he likely also considers “very unlucky” for them —
or East Jerusalem, or even Nazareth.

[Israeli flags are seen at the Philadelphi Corridor between the
southern Gaza Strip and Egypt, July 15, 2024. (Oren Cohen/Flash90)]
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Israeli flags are seen at the Philadelphi Corridor between the
southern Gaza Strip and Egypt, July 15, 2024. (Oren Cohen/Flash90)
Israeli flags are seen at the Philadelphi Corridor between the
southern Gaza Strip and Egypt, July 15, 2024. (Oren Cohen/Flash90)

On the Palestinian street, Trump’s plan will only further undermine
any notion of reconciliation with Israel. Sometimes enthusiastically,
sometimes grudgingly, but ever since the Oslo Accords in 1993 (and
even before that), the Palestinian political leadership has affirmed
the possibility of living alongside a state that was born through the
mass displacement and atop the ruins of their own people in 1948. This
was certainly never clear-cut; there were many obstacles, much
double-speak, and plenty of violent opposition — not least from
Hamas  — but this approach remained dominant for decades.

Once the American president proposes transfer as a solution to the
“Palestinian problem,” and once all of Israel — from the
religious-fascist right to the liberal center and even the Zionist
left — embraces it, the message to Palestinians is clear: there is
no possibility of compromise with Israel and its American patron, at
least in its current form, because they are determined to eliminate
the Palestinian people.

This does not necessarily mean that masses of Palestinians will
immediately take up armed struggle, though that is one potential
outcome. But it will certainly make it impossible for any Palestinian
leader who tries to reach an agreement with Israel to maintain popular
support. The Palestinian Authority’s legitimacy is already on the
floor; by re-entering into a political process with Israel in the
shadow of Trump’s plan, it will only deteriorate further.

A RECIPE FOR ALL-OUT REGIONAL WAR

And the danger does not end there. Trump, in his complete ignorance of
the Middle East (throughout the press conference, he repeatedly stated
that “both Arabs and Muslims” would benefit from the prosperity
his plan would bring), has “regionalized” the Palestinian
question, seeing its resolution not as a matter for Jews and
Palestinians living between the river and the sea, but instead dumping
this responsibility onto the surrounding states. He is not only
demanding that Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and other countries agree
to accept hundreds of thousands of Palestinians into their
territories, but is also effectively asking them to sign off on
burying the Palestinian cause.

Such a demand is a direct threat to the regimes of the Arab world. The
Jordanian government fears that a significant influx of Palestinians
into its kingdom could bring about its downfall by disrupting the
country’s delicate demographic balance, which already tilts heavily
Palestinian. But even in other countries with a less direct connection
to Palestine, the situation is just as fragile. One only had to watch
Saudi news channels on the day of Trump’s announcement to grasp the
level of shock, threat, and fear surrounding this move.

Fifteen years before the PLO made a historic compromise with the State
of Israel, Egypt had concluded that not only could it come to terms
with Israel’s existence in the region, but it could also benefit
from it, and signed the 1979 peace treaty. Jordan followed suit, and
four and a half years ago, the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco
embraced the same line of thinking. Even without having officially
normalized with Israel, regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia seems to
have reached a similar conclusion.

[President Donald Trump walks with Mohammed bin Salman along the West
Colonnade of the White House, Tuesday, March 14, 2017. (Shealah
Craighead/Official White House Photo)]
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President Donald Trump walks with Mohammed bin Salman along the West
Colonnade of the White House, Tuesday, March 14, 2017. (Shealah
Craighead/Official White House Photo)
President Donald Trump walks with Mohammed bin Salman along the West
Colonnade of the White House, Tuesday, March 14, 2017. (Shealah
Craighead/Official White House Photo)

But Trump’s bulldozing move, and Israel’s instinctive embrace of
it, could signal to Middle Eastern regimes — including those labeled
as “moderate” (which, in reality, are often more autocratic than
the rest) — that compromise is futile. It suggests that Israel,
thanks to its military power and U.S. backing, believes it can impose
any solution it desires on the region, including the forced
displacement of millions from their homeland and the denial of their
near-universally recognized right to self-determination.

Over the past year and a half, Israel was not satisfied with mass
killings in Gaza and the destruction of the infrastructure necessary
for human life. It also occupied parts of Lebanon, and is refusing to
withdraw in violation of the ceasefire agreement; and it has seized
parts of Syria with no intention of leaving anytime soon. This reality
only reinforces the impression that Israel has decided it can
establish a new order in the Middle East through sheer force —
without any agreements, and without any negotiations.

The 1973 War was the last time Israel fought against the armies of
sovereign states rather than non-state militant organizations, which
have always been far weaker. Even if Israeli history textbooks now
claim that Israel bore no responsibility
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that war, there is no doubt that Egypt and Syria launched it because
they realized there was no chance of peacefully recovering the
territories Israel had occupied in 1967. 

The path Israel is now following, under Trump’s influence, could
lead it to the same place, where its neighbors conclude that Israel
only understands force. Indeed, Middle East Eye quoted sources
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Amman stating that Jordan is prepared to declare war on Israel if
Netanyahu attempts to forcibly transfer Palestinian refugees into its
territory.

This is not inevitable, of course. A great deal depends on Trump’s
whim, and how determined he is to follow through on his statements in
the face of global opposition. The resistance must come not only from
Palestinians but also from Jews in Israel who understand that they
have no future here without living in equality with the land’s
native inhabitants. It could also come in the form of new coalitions
in the Middle East and beyond that refuse to accept American dictates.

What is clear is that Trump’s bellicose schemes, and Israel’s
pathetic attempt to ride the wave, carry the very real risk of being
met with force. And that would be disastrous for everyone.

_A version of this article was first published in Hebrew on Local
Call. Read it __here_
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_Meron Rapoport is an editor at Local Call._

_+972 Magazine [[link removed]] is an independent,
online, nonprofit magazine run by a group of Palestinian and Israeli
journalists. Founded in 2010, our mission is to provide in-depth
reporting, analysis, and opinions from the ground in Israel-Palestine.
The name of the site is derived from the telephone country code that
can be used to dial throughout Israel-Palestine._

_Our core values are a commitment to equity, justice, and freedom of
information. We believe in accurate and fair journalism that
spotlights the people and communities working to oppose occupation and
apartheid, and that showcases perspectives often overlooked or
marginalized in mainstream narratives._

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* Donald Trump
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* Israel
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* Gaza
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* ethnic cleansing
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