Despite Arab condemnation and anger, Trump: Committed to buying and owning Gaza, and may give parts of it to other countries

US President Donald Trump said he is "committed to buying and owning Gaza" and said he may give parts of the territory to other Middle Eastern countries to rebuild. This comes amid Arab anger over the plan to displace Palestinians.

Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that he would turn Gaza into a good site for future development, and would take care of the Palestinians and make sure "they don't get killed."

He added, "Gaza is a distinguished real estate location that we cannot abandon. We will rebuild Gaza through other wealthy countries in the Middle East."

He continued, "I will look into individual cases to allow Palestinian refugees to enter America... and countries in the Middle East will accept Palestinians after they talk to me."

He claimed that "the Palestinians will not want to return to Gaza if we provide them with a better alternative," and accused the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) of being "catastrophic" for the Strip, and said that the detainees released from Gaza on Saturday "looked like they had emerged from a holocaust."

The US President announced holding talks with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, without specifying a date.

Trump's proposal to remove more than two million Palestinians living in Gaza from the Strip and redevelop it has drawn global condemnation and angered the Arab and Islamic world.

Despite criticism from international allies and Arab countries, Trump insists on his proposal, and said earlier that "Israel will hand over the Gaza Strip to the United States after the fighting ends."

Arab anger

Trump's statements come amid Arab anger over the plan to displace the Palestinians, as Saudi Arabia and several Arab countries confirmed their "categorical rejection" of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's statements regarding the displacement of the Palestinian people and the establishment of a state for them in the Gulf Kingdom.

On Sunday, the Secretary-General of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, considered Netanyahu’s statements about establishing a Palestinian state in Saudi Arabia to be “completely disconnected from reality,” noting that they are “illusions that only exist in the minds of those who utter them,” in a position adopted by Egypt, the Emirates, and Qatar.

These statements, which the Israeli media considered a "joke," came two days after US President Donald Trump proposed redeveloping the Gaza Strip and transferring more than two million Palestinians living there to other countries, primarily Egypt and Jordan.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement, “The Kingdom affirms its categorical rejection of such statements that aim to divert attention from the successive crimes committed by the Israeli occupation against our Palestinian brothers in Gaza, including the ethnic cleansing they are being subjected to.”

She added, "This extremist occupying mentality does not understand what the Palestinian land means to the brotherly Palestinian people and their emotional, historical and legal connection to this land, and does not consider that the Palestinian people deserve life in the first place."

She stressed that "the brotherly Palestinian people have a right to their land, and they are not intruders or immigrants who can be expelled whenever the brutal Israeli occupation wants."

She continued, "The Kingdom affirms that the right of the brotherly Palestinian people will remain steadfast, and no one will be able to take it away from them no matter how long it takes," noting that "permanent peace will not be achieved except (...) by accepting the principle of peaceful coexistence through the two-state solution."

Saudi Arabia was engaged in preliminary talks with Israel through the United States, even days before the war broke out in the Gaza Strip, but it halted the negotiations and hardened its position after the war that erupted following an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Riyadh now links the path of normalization with the Hebrew state to the establishment of a Palestinian state. Netanyahu sparked much controversy on Thursday with his statement about establishing a “Palestinian state in Saudi Arabia,” during an interview with Israel’s Channel 14.

Netanyahu's statements drew widespread Arab condemnation. Egypt on Saturday condemned "in the strongest terms the irresponsible and totally unacceptable statements" by the prime minister of the Hebrew state.

She stressed that she "completely rejects these reckless statements that affect the security and sovereignty of the Kingdom," stressing that "the security of the sisterly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and respect for its sovereignty is a red line that Egypt will not allow to be violated, and its stability and national security are at the core of the security and stability of Egypt and the Arab countries, and there is no compromise on it."

In turn, the UAE expressed its "strong condemnation and denunciation of Netanyahu's unacceptable and provocative statements" and its "categorical rejection of these statements, which are considered a blatant violation of the rules of international law and the United Nations Charter."

Qatar declared its “full solidarity” with Saudi Arabia following the Israeli statements, while Bahrain declared its “support for the security, stability and sovereignty” of Saudi Arabia.

Jordan denounced the “aggressive calls to establish a (Palestinian state) on the lands of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, considering them condemnable provocative calls.”

The official spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sufian Qudah, stressed “Jordan’s absolute rejection of these provocative statements, which reflect an exclusionary, provocative ideology hostile to peace and push towards further escalation in the region.”

For Palestinians, any attempts to force them out of Gaza would bring back memories of the “Nakba” when the state of Israel was founded in 1948.

Source: Agencies + Al Jazeera