'Riviera of the Middle East': what does Trump's Gaza plan mean for the region?

The goal is 'explicitly championed' by many Israeli far-right politicians, and could help further Netanyahu's agenda

(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

Donald Trump stunned both detractors at home and allies abroad when he proposed that the US take a "long-term ownership position" of Gaza, and develop the war-torn territory into a "Middle Eastern Riviera".

Standing alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump suggested moving the two million Palestinian residents to a "good, fresh, beautiful piece of land" in another country. Even by Trump's standards, this was "head-spinning stuff", said the BBC's Paul Adams. Outside Israel, there's "no sign" of support for Trump's plan for Gaza in the Middle East.

What did the commentators say?

The plan is "absurd for multiple reasons", said CNN, not least logistically. Jordan (already home to about two million Palestinian refugees) and Egypt see the potential influx of more Palestinians as an "existential" threat. It's also "politically impossible for Saudi Arabia" – a "key piece in Trump's plan to create an anti-Iran crescent".

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But such a "stunning" suggestion will still "cause shockwaves throughout the Middle East", and make it "much harder" for Arab governments to work with Trump on the Abraham Accords of his first term. It could also jeopardise the "fragile" ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza.

But as "improbable" as Trump's proposal seems, it's a goal "explicitly championed" by many Israeli far-right politicians, said Ishaan Tharoor in The Washington Post. Any US occupation of Gaza would "help cement the strategic defeat" of Hamas, and would further Netanyahu's project of "redrawing the map" of the region. It also suggests a rejection of the "long-standing, if moribund, US goal": a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians. Trump has "yoked US policy once more" to Netanyahu's agenda.

What next?

Iran attacked the plans for the "ethnic cleansing" and "colonial erasure" of Gaza: a view that will likely be "echoed by many" in the coming days, said The Washington Post.

Trump is set to meet Jordan's King Abdullah next week in the White House, and Egypt's president later this month. Thanks to their objections, domestic opposition to more US intervention in the Middle East – and the Geneva Convention – Trump's plan has "little chance of becoming a reality", said The Times.

But "Trumpian bluff" or not, Gulf leaders will "soon find a way" to disabuse him of it.

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Harriet Marsden is a senior staff writer and podcast panellist for The Week, covering world news and writing the weekly Global Digest newsletter. Before joining the site in 2023, she was a freelance journalist for seven years, working for The Guardian, The Times and The Independent among others, and regularly appearing on radio shows. In 2021, she was awarded the “journalist-at-large” fellowship by the Local Trust charity, and spent a year travelling independently to some of England’s most deprived areas to write about community activism. She has a master’s in international journalism from City University, and has also worked in Bolivia, Colombia and Spain.