World Insights: Trump's Gaza takeover proposal threatens two-state solution

GAZA, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump's controversial proposal to relocate Gaza residents and for the United States to take over the area risks undermining the two-state solution and exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in the region, Palestinian political experts said.

Speaking alongside visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a joint press conference on Tuesday, Trump said the United States would "take control of the Gaza Strip" and redevelop it, without providing specifics on how Palestinians might be resettled.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, however, tried to walk back Trump's remarks on Wednesday, saying that the president just offered to "clear the debris, clean the place up from all the destruction that's on the ground, clean it up of all these unexploded munitions."

DEEMED COUNTERPRODUCTIVE

Trump's remarks have already stirred widespread criticism as an attempt to erase Palestinian national identity and rights under the guise of aid. In separate interviews, Palestinian analysts told Xinhua that Trump's statements are part of a broader agenda to diminish the Palestinian cause.

While Trump's proposal may lack immediate feasibility, experts say it reflects ongoing efforts by the United States and Israel to reshape the region's dynamics, according to Samir Anbitawi, a Ramallah-based Palestinian expert.

Anbitawi argued that Trump's remarks are not impulsive rhetoric but part of a strategy to frame the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a refugee issue, sidelining Palestinians' political rights.

"Such a proposal threatens to impose solutions that benefit the occupation and dismantle the two-state solution. It extends an old U.S.-Israeli agenda to displace Palestinians under the guise of humanitarian aid," Anbitawi said.

He noted that the proposal exploits Gaza's dire humanitarian conditions to pressure neighboring Arab countries into accepting Palestinians as refugees.

"This approach casts Palestinians as a 'regional burden' and seeks to erase their issue entirely," he added.

Such plans could also accelerate efforts to separate Gaza from the West Bank, fragmenting Palestinian territories and undermining prospects for a contiguous, independent state, said Ahmed Rafiq Awad, another Ramallah-based political expert.

"Trump's proposal might bolster Israeli control over Palestinian lands by depopulating Gaza," Awad told Xinhua.

Fadi Jomaa, a lecturer at the Arab American University in Jenin, told Xinhua, "This U.S. policy will spark unrest in host countries, as governments struggle to manage the influx of refugees amid ongoing regional instability."

Such measures amount to erasing the prospect of an independent Palestinian state, he said, adding that relocating Palestinians would entrench their status as permanent refugees, stripping them of their national identity and political rights.

STRONG OPPOSITIONS

Middle East governments and regional leaders on Wednesday sharply rejected Trump's suggestion to assume control of Gaza and relocate Palestinians. The Arab League rejected such a proposal in a statement, saying it violates international law and threatens regional stability.

Trump's proposal "does not contribute to achieving the two-state solution, which represents the only way to bring peace and security between Palestinians and Israelis, and in the entire region," the pan-Arab body said.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan called the Gaza proposal "unacceptable" and fundamentally flawed.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry issued a statement reaffirming that Saudi Arabia's position on the establishment of a Palestinian state is non-negotiable.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty urged the continuation of efforts to recover Gaza without forcing Palestinians to leave the enclave. Jordan's King Abdullah II, in a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Amman, also rejected any attempts to annex land or displace Palestinians. ■