CNN
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President Donald Trump said Saturday spoke with the king of Jordan on the potential construction of housing and movement of more than a million Palestinians from Gaza to neighboring countries, a remarkable proposal from a sitting US president.
Trump said he asked Jordan Abdullah II, a key U.S. partner in the region, to consult with more Palestinians in a Saturday phone call.
“I told him I wish you would take more, because I look at the whole Gaza Strip right now and it’s a mess, it’s a real mess,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One.
Jordan Petra’s State News Agency reported the call with Trumpbut made no mention of moving Palestinians. The kingdom is already home to more than 2.39 million registered Palestinian refugees, According to the UN.
Trump said he would like Jordan and Egypt – which borders the battered enclave – to house people and that he would speak to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sissi about the issue on Sunday.
“You’re talking about a million and a half people, and we’re cleaning all that up,” Trump said, adding that there have been centuries-old conflicts in the region.
He continued: “I don’t know, something has to happen, but it’s literally a demolition site right now. Almost everything is demolished and people are dying there, so I prefer to get involved in some of the Arab nations and build housing in a different place where I think maybe they could live in peace for a change. »
The president, a former real estate developer, said the potential housing “could be temporary” or “could be long term.”
Amit Segal, an analyst at Israel’s Channel 12 News, cited Israeli officials and reported that the move was “not a slip of the tongue but part of a much broader movement than it may seem.” coordinated with Israel.
A source familiar with the matter confirmed the report to CNN but gave no further details. CNN has contacted the US State Department for comment.
In addition to killing tens of thousands of people, the 15-month war between Israel and Hamas reduces much of Gaza to rubble. Israeli airstrikes have damaged or destroyed About 60% of buildings, including schools and hospitals, and about 92% of homes, according to the UN.
According to the UN, around 90% of Gazans have been displaced and many residents have been forced to move repeatedly, some more than 10 times.
Trump’s comments appear to break with decades of U.S. foreign policy, which has long emphasized a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine.
There has long been a fear in the region that Israel wants to push Palestinians from Gaza into neighboring countries – a premise Israel rejects, but one supported by far-right factions of its ruling coalition.
El-sisi criticized Israel’s decision to evacuate More than a million residents of Northern Gaza in October 2023, characterizing it as part of a broader plan to rid the entire region of Palestinians.
“The displacement or expulsion of Palestinians from the (Gaza) Strip in Egypt simply means that a similar situation will also take place – namely the expulsion of Palestinians from the West Bank into Jordan,” Sissi saidadding that it would not be helpful to discuss a Palestinian state, as “the land will be there, but the people won’t.”
Around the same time, King Abdullah called the idea of more Palestinian refugees moving to Jordan or Egypt a “red line.”
Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas official, said the Palestinians “will not accept any proposals or solutions” from Trump in leaving their homeland, even if they are “apparently well-intentioned under the guise of reconstruction.”
Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, an independent Palestinian politician, said he “completely rejected” Trump’s comments.
“What the occupation failed to achieve through its criminal bombing and genocide in Gaza will not be achieved through political pressure,” Barghouti said in a statement, adding “the conspiracy of ethnic cleansing will not succeed.” not in Gaza or the West Bank.”
There are approximately 5.9 million Palestinian refugees worldwide, most of them descendants of people who fled with the creation of Israel in 1948.
Upon taking office this week, Trump rescinded Biden-era sanctions against Israeli settlers deemed responsible for deadly violence in the occupied West Bank, in a move welcomed by Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has argued strenuously for Israel to re-establish Jewish settlements in Gaza abandoned under Israeli order in 2005.
Smotrich quickly agreed with Trump’s latest comments, saying, “The idea of helping (Gazans) find other places to start new, better lives is a great idea.”
Asset said earlier this week That it “might” be able to have a role in rebuilding Gaza, praising it as having a “phenomenal location, on the sea” and “the best weather.”
The comments echoed Remarks made by his son-in-law Jared Kushner in February 2024 When Kushner called waterfront property in Gaza “very valuable” and suggested Israel should take the Palestinians out of Gaza and “clean up.”
Trump also confirmed that he had lifted a Biden-era hold on providing 2,000-pound bombs for Israel.
“We released them today and they will get them. They paid for them and they have been waiting for them for a long time,” he told reporters.