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FILE – President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he signs executive orders in the White House on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
| Photo Credit: Evan Vucci
(This article is part of the View From India newsletter curated by The Hindu’s foreign affairs experts. To get the newsletter in your inbox every Monday, subscribe here.)
U.S. President Donald Trump stunned the world last week when he said the U.S. would “take over” Gaza, transfer Palestinians and redevelop the 360 square km territory, which suffered relentless Israeli bombing for 15 months, into the ‘Riviera of the Middle East’. Asked whether the U.S. would send troops to Gaza, he said the U.S. would do whatever is necessary. Later, the White House toned down the President’s proposal, saying Mr. Trump never committed to deploying American troops, and added that he meant temporary relocation of Palestinians. Earlier, Mr. Trump had said he wanted to “clean out” Gaza, and asked Egypt and Jordan to take the Palestinians of the enclave. Mr. Trump later posted on his Truth Social network that deploying troops would not be necessary, but reiterated his plan to move Palestinians and redevelop Gaza. Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the proposal and called Mr. Trump a “revolutionary”. He said Israel “will do the job” of executing the Trump plan, adding that only those Palestinians who “disown terror” would be allowed to return to Gaza once the redevelopment is over.
Israel’s far-right, especially the settler political lobby, has long demanded the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza (and the annexation of the illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank)–Gaza and West Bank are Palestinian territories and East Jerusalem is considered by a vast majority of members of the UN as an occupied territory. Politicians such as Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, who are opposed to the ongoing ceasefire, want Israel to resettle Jews in Gaza. During the course of the war, which was triggered by Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, killing 1,200 people, Israeli bombardment displaced Palestinians multiple times and pushed most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people to the south where the enclave has a crossing with Egypt. This led to many, including John Mearsheimer, the American Realist, to argue that one of the objectives of Israel’s war was to ethnically cleanse Palestinians. But Egypt made it clear that it would not open the Rafah crossing for Palestinian refugees. Palestinians themselves showed little interest in leaving Gaza, even as more than 47,000 of them were killed by the Israeli forces during the war. Eventually, Israel had to accept a ceasefire with Hamas, which came into force on January 19, to get the hostages out. Then, Mr. Trump unveiled his proposal, effectively backing the Israeli far-right’s plan to forcibly transfer Gaza’s population.
Mr. Trump’s plan has several problems. To begin with, as The Hindu argues in this editorial, “Palestinians are not an imperial possession that Israel and the U.S. can bomb and relocate at will. They are a people with a national identity, whose collective history, present and future, is deeply tied to the Palestinian land.” Their subjectivity matters and they don’t want to leave their lands. Second, Trump wants to move the Palestinians, whether temporary or permanent, to Egypt and Jordan. Both countries have rejected outright Mr. Trump’s proposal. So the U.S. is proposing to forcibly move Palestinians, who do not want to move, to Egypt and Jordan, who do not want to take more Palestinian refugees. Third, in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, hardly any Palestinian forced out of their homes managed to return. More than 700,000 Palestinians were displaced in 1948 when the state of Israel was created in the British-occupied historical Palestine. More Palestinians were displaced during the 1967 Six-Day war. Many of Gaza’s population are refugees who were displaced from their villages and towns which later became part of the state of Israel. Palestinians know that once they become refugees they have little chance to go back to their homes.
The Trump plan has shifted the focus away from the ceasefire, which is still holding — Hamas is releasing hostages in return for Israel freeing Palestinian security prisoners amid a pause in fighting. But the ceasefire could run into trouble as it enters Phase II, in which both sides are expected to bring the war to an end. Hamas has demanded Israel pull back all its forces from Gaza. Now, having been emboldened by the Trump plan to expel the whole of Palestinians from Gaza, Israel is unlikely to withdraw its troops. This could reignite fighting in the near future. The Trump plan has widened the chasm between Israel and Saudi Arabia, both American allies, further. Before October 7, under the mediation of the Biden administration, Saudi Arabia and Israel were in an advanced stage of normalising relations. After the October 7 attack and the subsequent Israeli war on Gaza, Riyadh hardened its position, saying there wouldn’t be any normalisation without a Palestinian state. After Trump unveiled his Gaza plan, the Kingdom issued a long statement, saying it was staunchly opposed to the transfer of Palestinians and called for a two state solution. This means, if Trump presses ahead with his plan and Israel moves ahead executing the plan through force, Gaza could see more bloodshed and West Asia could fall into further instability and chaos.
Indians sent back in military plane
Amritsar: A US military aircraft carrying illegal Indian immigrants upon its landing at the Shri Guru Ramdas Ji International Airport, in Amritsar, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. 104 Indian migrants were deported from US land, according to officials. (PTI Photo/Shiva Sharma)(PTI02_05_2025_000489A)
Days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s expected visit to the U.S., the Trump administration deported illegal Indian immigrants. Some 200 Indians were sent back to the country in a wide-bodied military aircraft, reports Kallol Bhattacherjee. Earlier Mr. Trump had said Mr. Modi “will do what’s right when it comes to taking back illegal Indian immigrants from America”. “The United States is vigorously enforcing its border, tightening immigration laws, and removing illegal migrants. These actions send a clear message: illegal migration is not worth the risk,” a U.S. Embassy spokesperson in New Delhi said on Tuesday. But the deportation triggered angry debates in India as some of the deportees claimed their hands and legs were cuffed throughout the journey and they were unshackled only after landing in Amritsar. Responding to such reports, Union Minister Ramdas Athawale said it was wrong to deport illegal immigrants in shackles and the U.S. government should have avoided such a treatment.
Published – February 10, 2025 12:23 pm IST
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The View From India newsletter: Understanding Trump’s Gaza plan
