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The challenge for Trump in Gaza is that he’s not the first person to think that the enclave could be rebuilt and become a success.
By SETH J. FRANTZMAN JANUARY 26, 2025 14:27
U.S. President Donald Trump sits in the Oval Office of the White House, as he signs executive orders, in Washington, U.S., January 23, 2025.
(photo credit: REUTERS/KEVIN LAMARQUE)
US President Donald Trump spoke with King Abdullah of Jordan on Saturday. The phone call is an important first step in the administration's beginning to get a grip on foreign policy in the region. Trump has already spoken with the Saudi Crown Prince, and this is his first conversation with a leader in the region. According to reports on CNN, the US president has floated an idea for housing some Gazans abroad while Gaza is rebuilt.
It's important to note that the King of Jordan and Trump knew each other from the first Trump administration. The king was one of the first foreign leaders to visit Washington and speak to Trump, arriving on January 30, 2017.Now, the two leaders have spoken about the future. It should be noted that the Jordanian king did not get what he wanted from Trump the first time around. On the contrary, he was concerned about the US moving the embassy to Jerusalem and other issues.
This time around, the US president has a potentially bigger question than last time when the Jordanians were asking. “President Donald Trump indicated Saturday that he had spoken with the king of Jordan about potentially building housing and moving more than 1 million Palestinians from Gaza to neighboring countries, a remarkable proposal from a sitting US president,” CNN reported. This implies Jordan should take in more Palestinians. Jordan already has a large population of Palestinians, primarily people who fled the 1948 war and also the 1967 war.The Kingdom has faced tensions over this issue in the past. Many of the Palestinian groups that oppose Israel formed cells in refugee camps in Jordan in the 1960s. This led to clashes with Israeli forces at places like Karameh. Later, there was a short civil war in Jordan when Palestinian terrorists tried to harm the King. The groups were forced to leave,e but Jordan was never the same. It is always on edge.
Demography matters in Jordan. The kingdom is based on Bedouin tribes and Arabs who live in northern Jordan and who combine to back the kingdom. However, the Palestinians and other refugees who have come, such as Iraqis and Syrians, have had an impact on the country. The Kingdom is vulnerable and relatively poor. Adding more Gazans to that mix is probably not something the Kingdom wants. But it may taken in a token number to please the American president.
“I said to him that I’d love you to take on more because I’m looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now, and it’s a mess, it’s a real mess,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, the CNN report noted. The report also noted that “the kingdom is already home to more than 2.39 million registered Palestinian refugees, according to the UN.” Trump’s next call is apparently to Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
Trump has big ideas for Gaza, apparently. This is the second time in a week he has discussed it as a “demolition site.”He spoke to reporters while signing executive orders after the inauguration about how Gaza could be rebuilt. He argued that its position in the Mediterranean gave it many opportunities. He’s right, but the fact Hamas controls it and the damage from the war make this difficult. “You’re talking about a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing,” Trump said. “I don’t know, something has to happen, but it’s literally a demolition site right now.Almost everything’s demolished, and people are dying there, so I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing in a different location where I think they could maybe live in peace for a change.”
The challenge for Trump in Gaza is that he’s not the first person to think that the enclave could be rebuilt and become a success. After the Israeli withdrawal in 2005, several well-meaning people funded the acquisition of the greenhouses in the former Israeli communities in Gaza. This plan was pushed by US envoy James Wolfensohn. Around $14 million was raised from people who wanted to acquire the greenhouses and hand them over to Gazans. The money was raised, and many of the greenhouses were destroyed by Gazans anyway.
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The greenhouses aren’t the only example of good ideas that sank in Gaza’s sand. A lot of investment flowed into Gaza after the 2009 war. Reconstruction was supposed to help transform some areas in Gaza into modern houses and model communities. It worked for a time. However, the Hamas attack on October 7 has led to ruin in many of those areas. Another example of fanciful ideas for Gaza was the idea to build an artificial island off the coast as if Gaza was similar to the UAE.
Moving Gazans out of Gaza has been proposed in the past. In the past some have discussed the idea of re-settling Gazans in Sinai. Egypt has always been sensitive to such proposals. Egypt will be sensitive today. They don’t want a million Gazans who they know Israel will likely prevent from returning.
Another hurdle for Trump’s proposal is likely Israel’s own leadership. If Trump takes a deep interest in Gaza and rebuilding it, he won’t want it destroyed due to another war. That would make it harder for Israel to operate in Gaza, and it’s plausible Hamas would want to hide within any newly constructed areas. Israel’s current government also opposes the Palestinian Authority running Gaza. Therefore, there doesn’t seem to be an alternative to the Hamas rule. Trump’s ideas for rebuilding Gaza and turning it into a successful beachfront state, kind of like a large Miami, face many hurdles. Hamas may not even be the biggest hurdle.
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