Trump's Riviera
The phrase is from Chris Stewart, a former Republican congressman and Air Force colonel, a great friend of the US president, who says: ‘Donald Trump has to be taken seriously, but not taken literally’.
We must take seriously that the idea has been launched: to displace Palestinians from Gaza and relocate them to neighbouring countries such as Egypt and Jordan while the United States takes control of the strip to rebuild it and turn it into the Riviera of the Middle East. But we must not take it literally because it is intended to shake up the board so that, at a regional level, a decision can be made because otherwise Washington may take the reins.
As expected, the rejection of this initiative has been widespread. White House spokespeople later qualified that the displacement would be temporary, even voluntary, that the United States is not going to send troops to Gaza and that it is not going to spend federal budget, but it has also maintained the initiative as viable and convenient and invites European countries such as Spain, Norway and Ireland, which have recognised Palestine, to be consistent and host these Palestinians.
Herein lies one of the key issues. Hamas is not Palestine, but now everything is mixed up and neighbouring countries such as Egypt and Jordan, which are among the most direct candidates to receive them, continue to flatly refuse as they have been doing for a long time. They refuse to take on more risks of instability such as those they have already experienced over the years.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said that it is the first good idea he has heard and has ordered his army to make plans for the voluntary departure of those who see the option of rebuilding their lives elsewhere.
We are faced with the harsh reality that we must confront. We must address the second phase of the ceasefire after the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, thinking about the third phase which leads us to how the reconstruction is done and, above all, who has control of the strip.
Israel has made it very clear that it will not allow Hamas and Islamic Jihad to continue using the Palestinian enclave for their own interests and those of Iran. Nor will it allow this in the West Bank, where the Palestinian National Authority is fighting to prevent Israel's military operations from provoking an all-out war.
The idea has been launched, Gaza is 95% destroyed, the Gazans have to start again and Trump, as if it were more of a property deal, invites them: why not do it somewhere else? Their last home on the strip is now a pile of rubble. Trump plays with the theory of stupefaction that he constantly uses to launch ordeal that provoke stupor, hilarity, surprise, scandal and indignation, as with tariffs, but there it is. Over time, a solution is being forged that we will see if it differs much from Trump's Riviera.