Depopulating Gaza

DONALD Trump’s latest plan to depopulate Gaza of its Palestinian inhabitants and ‘redevelop’ it as a tourist resort would be too absurd to comment on had the scheme not come directly from the horse’s mouth.

With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu standing by his side, President Trump said the US would “take over the Gaza Strip and … own it”. If implemented, such a plan would target Gaza for ethnic cleansing and foreign occupation, in order to create a ‘Riviera of the Middle East’ — one built on the remains of tens of thousands of Palestinians murdered by Israel.

Members of team Trump have scrambled to spin their boss’s words, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying that the idea “was not meant as hostile”, while the White House press secretary has said the US has no plans for boots on the ground in Gaza.

Global leaders from across the spectrum have denounced the plan, though Mr Netanyahu — responsible for the butchery in Gaza — has termed the scheme “remarkable”. As for the Palestinian people’s reaction? A resident of Gaza City queried by foreign media summed it up best: “Trump can go to hell. … We are going nowhere.”

The world should know that despite surviving a genocide, carried out by Israel and supported by the US, the people of Gaza refuse to part with their land. They have buried their children, yet they refuse to be evicted from the land of their forefathers in their determination not to repeat the Nakba. Israel would be more than happy to empty out Gaza, as well as the occupied West Bank, thereby making more land available for settlers to colonise.

But the Palestinian people will continue to resist these devious schemes, even while facing some of the most advanced and deadliest armaments on earth. The war on Gaza has proven that the will of the Palestinian people cannot be broken, and that they cannot be bought off, bribed or beaten into submission.

At this point, the two-state solution seems like a distant memory, with the Israelis refusing to budge an inch, and an American administration willing to shield Tel Aviv from all censure. In the absence of any workable and just solution that protects the rights of the Palestinian people, the only foreseeable outcome is more conflict. As it is, after the Gaza ceasefire, Israel has turned its guns on the West Bank. This cycle of bloodshed can be broken if the Palestinians get a contiguous and viable state, but Israel does not want to talk peace. The least feasible ‘solution’ is the Trumpian plan for Gaza’s ethnic cleansing and occupation, which is a non-starter. This is their land, and the Palestinians cannot be forced off it.

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2025