Nobody Wants Gaz-a-Lago

12 comments

1. Yair Rosenberg: “Move over, Greenland. Donald Trump has his eyes on a new prize: Gaza. At a news conference with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday, the president declared that ‘the U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip,’ ‘level it out,’ and ‘create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area.’ These people would not all be Gazans, whom Trump suggested should be resettled elsewhere, at least temporarily. The president also expressed openness to deploying U.S. troops in order to turn Gaza into the ‘Riviera of the Middle East.’

   “Trump’s Gaz-a-Lago plan has just one minor defect: It is a nonstarter with pretty much all of the parties required to make it work. Fresh off failed forays into Iraq and Afghanistan, many Americans will balk at inserting themselves into one of the Middle East’s most intractable conflicts. ‘I think most South Carolinians would probably not be excited about sending Americans to take over Gaza,’ Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the most hawkish lawmakers in Congress, told reporters. Trump named Jordan and Egypt as two Arab countries that could take in displaced Gazans during the territory’s reconstruction, but both regimes would rather swallow broken glass than grant citizenship or even a foothold to large numbers of Palestinians, whose cause they celebrate but whose people they routinely denigrate.

   “Trump’s scheme also conflicts with an essential component of the Israeli ethos. The country prides itself on ‘defending itself by itself as home to a formerly persecuted people no longer reliant on foreign powers for its security. This pose is something of a polite fiction—Israel very much relies on American weapons and diplomatic support—but it’s true to the extent that the country has always fought its own wars with its own fighters. Trump’s proposal would upend that doctrine and risk turning Israel into a liability for the United States, rather than a strategic asset. As for the Palestinians, many Gazans would readily seek a new life elsewhere if offered the opportunity to escape their horrific circumstances, but many others would not. If done at the point of a gun, such a transfer would constitute ethnic cleansing—a far-right Israeli dream into which Trump just breathed new life, whatever his intentions.”

   “But as flawed as Trump’s proposed solution is, it does identify a real problem. The U.S., Arab states, the European Union, the United Nations, and countless human-rights organizations all claim to care about Gaza. In the decades since Israel withdrew its troops and settlements from the territory, however, the international community has participated in a perverse cycle: It shovels money and aid into Gaza; watches that money get appropriated by Hamas to bankroll its messianic war against Israel’s existence; relegates the military response to Hamas to ever more hawkish Israeli governments, elected by voters pushed to the right by rocket attacks; rebuilds Gaza with more soon-to-be-compromised aid after yet another ruinous conflict between Israel and Hamas; then proclaims itself shocked and appalled when the cycle repeats …”

   “With significant revisions, this proposal could contain a semblance of something workable. Temporarily housing Gazans in dignified conditions elsewhere while the devastated territory is rebuilt under the watchful eyes of America and its allies would provide the Gazan people with much-deserved relief while depriving Hamas of its source of power and income. The civilians would no longer be shields for Hamas to place between itself and Israel, and Hamas would no longer be able to skim funds from the population’s aid. Ultimately, the Gazan people could then return to a home no longer hostage to either Hamas or Israeli blockade …”

   “Trump’s proposal could be a negotiating tactic—a grandiose plan intended to be bargained down to something practical. It could be a flight of fancy that won’t survive contact with the regional players, or a vision he intends to push through with American might … Whether Trump will follow through on any of the ideas he tossed like grenades into the discourse yesterday is anyone’s guess. What’s certain is this: The old rules of the Middle East no longer apply, and no one knows what the new ones are.”

   Read more here: [https://theatln.tc/ZgBdy4IW](https://theatln.tc/ZgBdy4IW)

2. Dude Netanyahu is getting away with highway robbery. He got the US to fund large amounts of his war. Destroyed most of Gaza. And now he might even convince the US president to relieve him of the Gaza problem.

3. One of Trumps most consistent policy points has been limiting US involvement overseas. On a surface level these recent statements may seem like a bizarre 180 turnaround in opinion, but my gut is inclined to believe this is him employing the madman tactic as a way to get other Arab nations to get serious about Gaza. “If you’re not willing to fix this we’ll come do it ourselves and you’re not gunna like it if we do.” seems to be the spirit of this. It’s a threat to other Arab nations if you don’t want the USA directly on your doorstep, stop just rejecting solutions and actually offer some and actually participate in the resolution of the issue.

   I could be wrong though but I’m willing to bet this is a giant bluff.

4. I love how the fact that what he’s proposing is straight up ethnic cleansing is like a footprint on the 3rd paragraph.

5. Maybe not Gaza-Lago, but I would settle for Gush Katif

6. billions and billions to the Gaz-a-Lago.. what an absolute nutter this man is

7. I don’t know who is going to go to this place unless they create some kind of anarcho-capitalist haven for very rich people to hide money and party. It isn’t convenient for travel there, it has no tourism draw, there’s nothing particularly good about it for business or trade.

8. Just a little reminder, if you are American, you are guilty!!!!!!, it doesn’t matter if you are democrat or not; democrats by non-acting against this when they had the opportunity and republicans by voting for this fascist

9. Abomination of desolation

10. It feels like Trump has been POTUS for months and it’s been 2.5 weeks.

11. This proposal is about as bizarre as it is reprehensible. Human rights violations and obviously unworkable displacement aside, why is Trump lining up to have the US foot the bill for an expensive occupation and reconstruction, not to mention having the US take the blame and heat for something nobody wants to do?

    Bibi ‘s reaction was dumbfounded. It’s like Trump offered him a trillion dollars with no strings attached.

12. Flood the zone with shit to distract from the true purpose.

    Idk what the true purpose is, but it sure ain’t Gaza.

    But the concept of filling the news cycle with shit sure works like a charm.

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