New Delhi: US President Donald Trump shocked the world by his comments calling for all Palestinian residents of Gaza to relocate permanently in Jordan and Egypt. Arab and other world leaders promptly rejected Trump’s idea calling it no less than an ‘ethnic cleansing’ of the people who already faced the wrath of non-stop Israeli bombardment for 15 months.
Following the global condemnation, the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio clarified on Trump’s remark called the move ‘temporary’ while at the same time saying it was a generous offer from US President.
‘Temporary relocation of Palestinians’
Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also clarified on Trump’s ‘shocking comments and said the US President was meant to advocate a temporary relocation of Palestinians from Gaza so that the rebuilding process could be started in the Gaza Strip destroyed by Israeli bombing.
She also said that Trump was expecting his allies like Jordan and Egypt to absorb 2.1 million residents of Gaza. Karoline Leavitt also made it clear that US was not planning to send troops into Gaza.
On Wednesday, US President said that US will takeover control of Gaza and own it and use US troops to make this possible. Trump said he wants to make Gaza ‘Riviera of the Middle East’ by relocating the Palestinians after the war. Trump called Gaza a ‘demolition site’ and unlivable for Palestinians.
Palestinians reject Trump’s idea
Meanwhile, Palestinians have rejected Donald Trump’s relocation idea as they fear that they may never be allowed back into the Gaza Strip. Nearly half a million internally displaced persons have returned to North Gaza after a Hamas ceasefire with Israel.
Palestinians continues to remember ‘Nakba’ meaning ‘catastrophe’ in Arabic), when millions of Palestinians were forced to leave Palestinian territories in what is now Israel, by Zionist gangs in 1948.
