(Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement on Tuesday that the U.S. would take over the Gaza Strip after Palestinians are resettled elsewhere drew sharp reactions.
AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER ANTHONY ALBANESE:
“Australia’s position is the same as it was this morning, as it was last year. The Australian government supports on a bipartisan basis a two-state solution.”
DEMOCRATIC AND PALESTINIAN-AMERICAN U.S. REPRESENTATIVE RASHIDA TLAIB:
“Palestinians aren’t going anywhere. This president can only spew this fanatical bullshit because of bipartisan support in Congress for funding genocide and ethnic cleansing. It’s time for my two-state solution colleagues to speak up.”
DEMOCRATIC U.S. SENATOR CHRIS VAN HOLLEN:
“Trump’s proposal to push 2 million Palestinians out of Gaza and take ‘ownership’ by force, if necessary, is simply ethnic cleansing by another name.
“This declaration will give ammunition to Iran and other adversaries while undermining our Arab partners in the region.
“It defies decades of bipartisan American support for a two-state solution. …. Congress must stand up to this dangerous and reckless scheme.”
U.S. MUSLIM ADVOCACY GROUP COUNCIL ON AMERICAN ISLAMIC RELATIONS:
“Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people, not the United States, and President Trump’s call to expel Palestinians from their land is an absolute non-starter.”
“If the Palestinian people were ever somehow forcibly expelled from Gaza, this crime against humanity would spark widespread conflict, put the final nail in the coffin of international law, and destroy what remains of our nation’s international image and standing.”
ARAB AMERICAN INSTITUTE:
“If the president was truly interested in bringing an era of peace to the Middle East, he would support self-determination for the Palestinian people on their historic land and in accordance with international law – not talk of illegal forced transfer.”
PAUL O’BRIEN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USA:
“Removing all Palestinians from Gaza is tantamount to destroying them as a people. Gaza is their home. Gaza’s death and destruction is a result of the government of Israel killing civilians by the thousands, often with U.S. bombs.”
SENIOR HAMAS OFFICIAL SAMI ABU ZUHRI:
The call for Gazans to leave is “expulsion from their land”, he said, adding, “We consider them (the plans) a recipe for generating chaos and tension in the region because the people of Gaza will not allow such plans to pass.”
DEMOCRATIC U.S. SENATOR CHRIS MURPHY:
“He’s totally lost it,” he said on X. “A U.S. invasion of Gaza would lead to the slaughter of thousands of U.S. troops and decades of war in the Middle East. It’s like a bad, sick joke.”
DEMOCRATIC REPRESENTATIVE JAKE AUCHINCLOSS:
The proposal is “reckless and unreasonable,” he told the NewsNation cable channel, and said it could scuttle Phase 2 of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
“We have to look at Trump’s motives,” he added. “As always, when Trump proposes a policy item, there is a nepotistic, self-serving connection.”
Referring to Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, he said, “They want to turn this into resorts.”
JON ALTERMAN, MIDDLE EAST PROGRAMME HEAD, WASHINGTON’S CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES:
“Many Gazans descended from Palestinians who fled parts of present-day Israel and have never been able to return to their previous homes. I’m skeptical many would be willing to leave even a shattered Gaza.”
(Reporting by Leslie Adler and Kanishka Singh; Writing by Stephen Coates)
