Trump calls for Arab nations to accept more Palestinians as part of effort to 'clean up' Gaza

U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters he wanted to see Jordan, Egypt, and other Arab countries accept displaced people from the Gaza Strip during a press briefing aboard Air Force One on Saturday night, following a phone call with Jordan’s King Abdullah II.

“I said to him, ‘I’d love for you to take on more because I’m looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now, and it’s a mess,’” the president said.

Trump told the reporters that he discussed his vision with King Abdullah II during his phone call earlier that evening, saying that he would also discuss it with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. 

“You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing,” Trump said of Gaza. “I don’t know. Something has to happen, but it’s literally a demolition site right now.” 

While the comments by President Trump likely do not yet express official U.S. policy, they are sure to be controversial in the Arab world, which has resisted previous attempts to relocate Palestinians, claiming that doing so would endanger their ability to return to their homes and could constitue ethnic cleansing.

Arab countries have historically not granted citizenship or full legal rights to Palestinians who fled to their countries during the 1948 War of Independence, preferring to keep them as refugees in order to pressure Israel. 

Egypt has consistently said that it will not accept Palestinian refugees from Gaza. The country maintains that any attempt to force Palestinians into their territory would endanger the peace agreements that it has with Israel. 

It is also not clear from Trump’s comments if he envisions a temporary relocation to allow the rebuilding of Gaza, or if he is referring to a more permanent solution. 

“Something has to happen," Trump said. “But it’s literally a demolition site right now. Almost everything’s demolished, and people are dying there.” 

Appearing to support a more permanent solution, he continued, “So, I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations, and build housing in a different location, where they can maybe live in peace for a change.” 

Trump previously floated the idea of relocating some of the Gaza Palestinians to Indonesia, according to a report in NBC last week. 

Trump's comments were immediately praised by right-wing politicians in Israel.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that helping Gaza's population find a place to start new lives was "a great idea."

"After years of sanctifying terror, they will be able to establish a new, good life elsewhere. For years, statesmen have been proposing unworkable solutions such as partitioning the land and a Palestinian state that have jeopardized the existence and security of the only Jewish state in the world, and have only caused bloodshed and suffering for a large population."

Smotrich vowed he would "work closely with the Prime Minister and the Cabinet to ensure that there is an operational plan to implement this as soon as possible."

Itamar Ben Gvir, leader of the Jewish Power party, praised Trump’s "initiative to transfer residents from Gaza to Jordan and Egypt.”

“One of our demands to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to encourage voluntary migration and when the president of the world's largest power, Trump, himself raises the idea, it would be wise for the Israeli government to implement it – encourage immigration [emigration] now!” Ben Gvir wrote on 𝕏.

The former National Security Minister recently left the coalition government over the ceasefire agreement. He has consistently advocated the relocation of Palestinians to Arab countries.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to travel to Washington, D.C. in the first half of February for a meeting with Trump.

The two leaders are expected to discuss the Gaza issue, including the next phases of the ceasefire deal, normalization with Saudi Arabia, and the Iranian threat.