Republicans Split over Trump’s Gaza Plan

Photo Credit: AI Golem

Trump on the cleared Gaza beach.

Many Republicans on the Hill who have rallied behind nearly every action Trump has taken since assuming office, defending him against Democratic criticism, this week voiced serious doubts regarding his proposal to take long-term control of Gaza.

Trump loyalist Steve Bannon, who led his campaign to victory in 2016, said in an interview this week, “We love the president, but our focus in the War Room is East Palestine, not Palestine.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told the Wall Street Journal about Trump’s Gaza plan, “I’ve been on the phone with Arabs all day… That approach, I think, will be very problematic.”

Another Trump ally, Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), told the WSJ, “I think it’s a big, visionary idea that is impractical.”

On Wednesday, senior officials from the Trump administration attempted to revise aspects of the president’s proposal to “take over” Gaza and remove the PA Arab population, suggesting Trump had not committed to deploying US troops to clear the area, and stressing that any relocation of civilians would be temporary.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “The president has not committed to putting boots on the ground in Gaza.”

Speaking to reporters in Guatemala, Secretary of State Marco Rubio twice indicated that President Trump was only proposing to clear out and rebuild Gaza, not to take permanent control of the territory.

Even Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, informed Republican senators at a private luncheon that Trump “doesn’t want to deploy any US troops on the ground, nor does he want to spend any US dollars at all” on Gaza, according to the NY Times, citing Senator Josh Hawley (R-Missouri).

“I thought we voted for America first,” tweeted Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), adding, “We have no business contemplating yet another occupation to doom our treasure and spill our soldiers’ blood.”

Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kansas) told reporters the US should not throw out the idea of a two-state solution. “It’s not something that can be unilaterally decided,” he said.

Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said she would not speculate on any potential proposal to send US forces into a region “that has seen enough turmoil.”

“I don’t even want to speculate on that question, because I think that is quite frightening,” she said.

GOD BLESS YOU, MR. JOHNSON

House Speaker Mike Johnson commended the plan as “bold, decisive action to try to secure the peace of that region.” He added that he would discuss the issue with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu during their meeting at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday. “I think people understand the necessity of it, and we’re going to stand with Israel as they work towards this goal. And we’ll stand with the President on his initiative,” Johnson said at a news conference.

According to the WSJ, citing administration officials, Trump’s enthusiasm for taking control of Gaza increased after Steve Witkoff had visited the region last week and briefed Trump on his observations. Witkoff described Gaza as “uninhabitable” and told the president that reconstructing its 140 square miles would be difficult as long as PA Arabs remained amid the rubble.

Witkoff, a billionaire real estate developer, also presented Trump with photographs showing the extent of the destruction in the enclave.

THE GREAT DISRUPTOR

Trump’s Gaza proposal, unveiled on Tuesday during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House, disrupted decades of international diplomacy and created a geopolitical Pandora’s box. For one thing, the Trump proposal immediately complicated talks on extending the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and continuing the release of some 70 Israeli hostages, both alive and dead. It also placed Egypt and Jordan in a difficult position and seems to have jeopardized Trump’s efforts to establish diplomatic ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

In a statement released before 4 AM local time Wednesday, Saudi Arabia strongly rejected any efforts to displace Gazan civilians and reaffirmed that it would not normalize relations with Israel without an independent Palestinian state.

Egypt’s foreign ministry stated that aid and recovery programs for Gaza must proceed “without the Palestinians leaving.”

However, US assistance has played a central role in Egypt’s economic and military development and in furthering the US-Egypt strategic partnership and regional stability. Since 1978, the United States has provided Egypt with over $50 billion in military and $30 billion in economic assistance (as of 2022).

In other words, Egypt would find it hard to refuse President Trump’s demand that it host around one million Gazans, or merely serve as a safe haven while they seek shelter in other countries.

Meanwhile, King Abdullah II of Jordan met with the head of the Palestinian Authority on Wednesday and rejected any efforts to displace PA Arabs or annex their land.

His Majesty is due to visit Trump next Tuesday, on which occasion the President would likely remind him that the United States is Jordan’s single largest provider of bilateral assistance, providing more than $1.65 billion in 2021, including over $1.197 billion appropriated by the US Congress to Jordan in the 2021 fiscal year budget, and $425 million in State Department Foreign Military Financing funds. The United States has also provided nearly $1.7 billion in humanitarian assistance to support Syrian refugees in Jordan since the start of the Syria crisis in 2010.

As Trump put it bluntly in a conversation with skeptical reporters this week: “They’ll do it,” meaning both the Egyptians and the Jordanians will do the math, kiss the ring, and help the world get rid of the infestation of “Palestinian refugees” in the Gaza Strip.