Donald Trump’s Gaza plan: Five of the biggest takeaways from proposed US takeover

US President Donald Trump is touting a seismic shift in the Middle East, urging Palestinians to relocate out of Gaza Strip and leave it in the hands of the US.

Standing side by side with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a White House press conference, Mr Trump laid out how his left-field solution to bringing peace to the war-torn zone would work.

Here are the five main takeaways:

Trump says Gazans should move to ‘really nice places with plenty of money’

Donald Trump wants Palestinians resettled away from Gaza “in nice homes and where they can be happy and not be shot, not be killed”.

He believes there is no alternative but for them to seek a home elsewhere while it is being rebuilt after nearly 16 months of a devastating war between Israel and Hamas militants.

“(Gaza is) a pure demolition site. If we could find the right piece of land, or numerous pieces of land, and build them some really nice places with plenty of money in the area, that’s for sure, I think that would be a lot better than going back to Gaza.”

“I don’t know how they (Palestinians) could want to stay.”

Under Mr Trump’s vision, around 1.7 million Palestinians from the 360sqkm “demolition site” that is Gaza currently would be resettled in Jordan, Egypt and other countries in the region.

“If we could find the right piece of land, or numerous pieces of land, and build them some really nice places with plenty of money in the area, that’s for sure. I think that would be a lot better than going back to Gaza.”

The US president confidently predicted that Jordan and Egypt would not refuse him on the issue. He also says Saudi Arabia had been “very helpful”.

In recent days, though, multiple Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt have publicly denounced his suggestion to displace Palestinians from Gaza. Palestinian leaders have also rejected this proposal.

US to ‘own’ Gaza after unprecedented takeover

Under Mr Trump’s plan, the United States would take an “ownership position” of Gaza”, which he believes will bring stability to one of the most contested pieces of land in the world.

“The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it, too. We will own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site and get rid of, the destroyed buildings,” he said.

“I do see a long term ownership position and I see it bringing great stability to that part of the Middle East.”

Mr Trump did not make clear, however, how he would put his plan into action and whether it would be legal under international law.

“This was not a decision made lightly, everybody I have spoken to love the idea of the United States owning that piece of land, developing and creating thousands of jobs with something that will be magnificent, really magnificent that nobody would know and nobody can look because all they see is death and destruction and rubble and demolished buildings falling all over. A terrible sight.

“I have studied this very closely over a lot of months and I have seen it from every different angle and it is a very dangerous place to be.

“It is only going to get worse. I think it is an idea that has gotten tremendous, I am talking about from the highest level of leadership, gotten tremendous...and if the United States can help to bring stability and peace in the Middle East we will do that.”

Gaza to become ‘Riviera of the Middle East’

Mr Trump has grand plans for Gaza after a US takeover: “levelling” bombed-out buildings and rebuilding, saying it could become the “Riviera of the Middle East”.

“We have an opportunity to do something that could be phenomenal and I don’t want to be cute, I don’t want to be a wise guy, but the Riviera of the Middle East - this could be something that could be so magnificent.

“More importantly than that is the people that have been absolutely destroyed that live there now (find) peace in a much better situation because they are living in hell and those people will now be able to live in peace.

“We will make sure it is done world-class, it will be for the people.”

When asked who would live in a US “owned” Gaza, Mr Trump said it would be the “world’s people”.

“I think you’ll make that into an international unbelievable place. I think the potential and the Gaza Strip is unbelievable. And I think the entire world, representatives from all over the world, will be there, and they’ll live there. Palestinians also, Palestinians will live there. Many people will live there.”

Netanyahu is unsurprisingly a big fan

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lavishly praised Donald Trump’s willingness to “puncture conventional thinking”.

“You cut to the chase. You see things others refuse to see, you say things others refuse to say and after the jaws drop, people scratch their heads, and they say, you know, he is right,” he said at the press conference.

“And this is the kind of thinking that enables us to bring the Abraham accords, the kind of thinking that will reshape the Middle East and bring peace.

Mr Netanyahu says his plan for the US to takeover and “level” Gaza is worth pursuing.

“He has a different idea, and I think it is worth paying attention to this,” he said.

“We’re talking about it. He is exploring it with his people, with his staff. I think it is something that could change, it is worthwhile, really pursuing this.”

Where does Trump’s plan leave the two state solution?

Mr Trump says his plan has no impact on the idea of a two-state solution to peace.

“It means that we want to have people to have a chance at life, they’ve never had a chance at life because the Gaza Strip has been (hell) for people living there, Hamas has made it so bad, so dangerous, unfair to people.

“By doing what I am recommending we do, it is a strong recommendation, that by doing that I think we will bring perhaps a great peace to long beyond this area.

“I have to stress this is not for Israel, this is for everybody in the Middle East, Arabs, Muslims, for everybody, where they can partake in terms of jobs and living and all the other benefits and I think it is very important, it does not work any other way.

“You can’t keep trying, it has been going along with so many decades, you can’t even count, you can’t keep doing, you have to learn from history, you can’t keep doing the same mistake over and over again.”