Waffenruhe in the Middle East
Trump wants to take over Gaza – what does that mean?
The US President is known for astonishing statements. But with his Gaza plans, he outbids himself. What effects could they have for the region already battered by wars?
US President Donald Trump has submitted plans for the future of the war-destroyed Gaza Strip, which have immediately come across a lot of criticism. The coastal strip on the Mediterranean with around two million Palestinian residents should go into the “property” of the United States, Trump said in the presence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington.
Trump also wants to cause a permanent resettlement of the population of the Gaza Strip. From the perspective of experts, this violates international law. With his plans, Trump met with resistance in the USA and internationally.
What is Trump’s vision for the Gaza Strip?
Trump is striving for a resettlement of the people living in the Gaza Strip in Arab states and a reconstruction of the area, which was largely placed in rubble and ash during the more than one -year war between Israel and Hamas. Under the leadership of the United States, the Gaza Strip could become a “Riviera of the Middle East”, he enthused. Trump said this would be “wonderful” for the Palestinians, but at the same time said that after a resettlement, he did not expect the current residents of the Gaza Strip. For them, Gaza is the “hell”.
Trump named a number of around 1.8 million Palestinians who had to leave their homeland. If you will live in the Gaza Strip in the future, the US President left open. “Many people” should live there, “Palestinians too,” he only said. It is also unclear what status the area should have after Trump’s plans in the future – from the United States, it should be annexed, struck Israel or managed differently.
After the beginning of the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians in the 1990s, there were efforts to transform the Gaza strip into an area that is also attractive for tourism. Various projects were created, including a water inconvenient park. However, the violent takeover of the Islamist Hamas in the coastal strips in 2007 and the tightening of an Israeli blockade of the area, which was supported by Egypt, put an end to such experiments.
What does international law say?
The forced resettlement of the two million residents of the Gaza Strip, as proposed by US President Donald Trump, is not compatible with international law. There are exceptions – which, however, are unlikely to apply in relation to the Gaza Strip.
Rule 129 of international international habits is relevant. The German Red Cross has a translation of the English texts stored in the legal database of the International Committee of the Red Cross (IKRK), and it says literally:
“The parties involved in an international armed conflict may not be deleted or forced to carry out the civilian population of an occupied area, in their entirety or in part, unless this is necessary with regard to the security of the affected civilians or for mandatory military reasons.”
Why are Egypt and Jordan defend themselves and what are the pressure from the United States?
For domestic reasons, Egypt and Jordan reject a resettlement of the Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, as this would trigger considerable tensions. In Cairo, the government fears that a large number of refugees could further tighten the economic and social situation-especially in the Sinai region, where there are already security problems with Islamist groups.
Jordan is one of the countries with the highest number of refugees per inhabitant worldwide. In addition to numerous Syrians, a large Palestinian community is already living there. A forced expulsion from the Gaza Strip could destabilize the domestic balance and further strengthen the influence of the Palestinians in the country – a scenario that could increase tensions with the local population and the monarchy.
Experts warn that Trump’s plans could destabilize two of the most stable countries in the Middle East. However, the United States could consider governments considerably with a stop financial support. Egypt, for example, receives around $ 1.3 billion military aid annually.
How much is the Gaza strip destroyed, how long would the reconstruction take?
According to the UN Nothilfebüro Ocha, 90 percent of the approximately two million people in the Gaza Strip were driven out of their houses and settlements during the war. After evaluating the UN satellite center Unosate from December, around 69 percent of the buildings in the Gaza strip are destroyed or damaged. It alone lists a good 60,000 destroyed and a good 20,000 heavily damaged buildings. After a UN report from January, there are 50 million tons of debris alone.
Many of the hundreds of thousands of displaced persons who returned to the north of the Gaza Strip after the start of the ceasefire last month found only a rubble field in their place of residents. Trump’s Middle East -sent Steve Witkoff told the news site “Axios” after visiting the region that “in the Gaza Strip is” almost nothing. A reconstruction of the coastal strip could take five to ten years.
How do the Arab countries and Hamas react to Trump’s advance?
The Arab countries have fundamentally rejected a relocation of the Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. The reasons for this are diverse. In addition to domestic policies, the countries of the region fear that such a resettlement would cement Israeli control over the Gaza Strip and legitimize permanent displacement. In addition, they do not want to be considered an accomplices of a policy that could be interpreted as an ethnic cleaning.
A forced migration could also serve as a precedent for further displacement. In addition, tensions are threatened within the Arab league, since the load of the recording would be unevenly distributed. Above all, the Gulf States, who have only taken on limited responsibility in the form of financial support for the Palestinian population, could be under increased pressure to explain.
Trump accused the Islamist Hamas, whose massacre in Israel triggered the devastating war on October 7, 2023. His statements are the undisguised attempt to refuse their inalienable national rights to the Palestinians, said Isat Al-Rischk, member of the Hamas Politburos.
The population of the Gaza Strip will not allow this, said the leading Hamas member Sami Abu Suhri. “What we need is the end of the crew and aggression against our people, not the expulsion from his country.”
What are the reactions from the USA?
Trump’s Foreign Minister Marco Rubio supported the President’s proposals. The United States is ready to “make Gaza again,” wrote Rubio on the X. But the Republicans’ warehouse also became skepticism. The Republican Senator Lindsey Graham unanimously called the proposal “problematic”. He had doubts that his voters would be happy about the posting of US soldiers in the Gaza Strip, said the current chairman of the budget committee in the US Senate.
Violent criticism hailed from the Democrats camp. The proposal is disturbed and crazy, said democratic Senator Tim Kaine according to NBC. The Democrat Chris Murphy accused Trump of wanting to distract from the cuts and layoffs in the state apparatus.
What does Israel say about the plans?
Especially with right -wing Israelis, Trump’s plans trigger open enthusiasm. The right -wing extremist finance minister Bezhalel Smotrich thanked Trump in a post on the platform X and commented that it would be “even better and even better”. In addition to an Israeli and a US flag, he wrote: “Together we will make the world great again.” Like other right -wing extremists Israelis, Smotrich strives to resist the Gaza Strip, which Israel had cleared in 2005.
Michael Milshtein, expert for Palestinian studies at the University of Tel Aviv, urged to warn of excessive euphoria about Trump’s plans. “We can cause severe damage in relationships with Arab countries with which we have had contracts for decades such as Jordan and Egypt, but also with the states of the Abraham contracts,” Milshtein told the Israeli Kan broadcaster.
In the event of a implementation of Trump’s plans for Gaza, one could also “forget” the desired normalization with Saudi Arabia, he warned. He would like Netanyahu to have a realistic line on this topic.
dpa
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
