President Trump on Sunday said that he is not rushed to develop Gaza, arguing that building there will bring Middle East stability after he announced a plan for an American takeover of the war-torn region.
“Think of it as a big real estate site, and the United States is going to own it, and will slowly, very slowly, we’re in no rush, in development. We’re going to bring stability to the Middle East,” Trump told reporters.
The president’s controversial proposal stands to upend decades of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and leaders of regional Arab nations and even some of Trump’s Republican allies appeared lukewarm to it.
Trump on Sunday called Gaza “a demolition site.”
“It’ll be reclaimed. It’ll be leveled out, fixed up. There won’t be anybody there. Hamas won’t be there. We’ll be building through other of the very rich countries in the Middle East, they’ll be building some beautiful sites for the people, the Palestinians, to live in,” he said. “They’ll be living in harmony and peace, relatively, for the first time in hundreds of years.”
Trump on Friday asserted that Gaza would be given to the U.S. by Israel and doubled down on his push for Palestinians to leave the region. He said earlier in the week that he would back the resettlement of Palestinians into Egypt and Jordan, despite those countries immediately rejecting such a deal.
Trump also said Friday his plan “would lead to great stability in the area” for “very little money.” He hasn’t detailed logistics of his plan, which has led to questions over if it would require American troops on the ground.
