How Trump's Suggestion To 'Clean Out' Gaza Sent Shockwaves Through The Middle East

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Hundreds of thousands of civilians returned to the northern Gaza Strip this week after checkpoints were reopened in line with the ceasefire agreement. Many will have found their homes destroyed after months of heavy fighting and bombardment – something the new US president, Donald Trump, has pointed out.

In an exchange with reporters last weekend, trump said:“I'm looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now and it's a mess, it's a real mess.” He then went on to suggest Palestinians there should be“evacuated” to Egypt and Jordan where“they could maybe live in peace for a change”.“You're talking about a million and a half people ... we just clean out that whole thing,” he continued.

Trump is seemingly no stranger to airing whatever thoughts come into his head. At his inauguration he claimed – without providing evidence – that“China is operating the Panama canal”. And he has since called Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine“ridiculous”. But even by these standards, his suggestion to evict Gazans from their land is brash to say the least.

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As Karin Aggestam of Lund University reports , Trump's proposal has been met with disbelief across the Middle East. It has been widely criticised throughout the region as a potential“second Nakba” – referring to the displacement of Palestinians after Israel's unilateral declaration of statehood in 1948.

Read more: Donald Trump's suggestion of 'clearing out' Gaza adds another risk to an already fragile ceasefire

The proposal has also been rejected outright by Egypt and Jordan. Egypt's ministry of foreign affairs released a statement on Sunday objecting to any forced displacement of Palestinians. And Jordan's minister of foreign affairs, Ayman Safadi, said his country was committed to“ensuring that Palestinians remain on their land”. The Arab League regional bloc has accused Trump of advocating ethnic cleansing.

Aggestam says it's not yet certain if moving Palestinians out of Gaza will become an official US policy position, or whether it is yet another example of Trump speaking his mind. But, in her view, Trump's latest pronouncement will further complicate the already fragile ceasefire.

The idea of relocating Palestinians to other countries has thrilled Israel's extreme ultra-nationalist parties. The Israeli finance minister and leader of the Religious Zionist party, Bezalel Smotrich, and the former national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, have both previously encouraged the return of Israeli settlers to the Gaza Strip.

Ben Gvir, who recently resigned from his ministerial position in protest at the Gaza ceasefire, asserted in October that“encouraging emigration” of Palestinian residents of Gaza would be the“most ethical” solution to the conflict.

According to Leonie Fleischmann of City, University of London, the pair share an anti-Arab ideology and a messianic belief in the Jewish people's right to what they call“Greater Israel”. This refers to a Jewish state that would also include the West Bank, which they referred to as“Judea and Samaria”, as well as Gaza and part of Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

As Fleischmann explains , the West Bank and the Gaza Strip were the sites of many key events in biblical times and were the home of a number of Israelite kingdoms. In the Bible, God even promises this land to the descendants of Abraham – the Jewish people. This, Fleischmann writes, is the reason behind Smotrich and Ben Gvir's belief that the Jewish people have the God-given right to settle the whole of Greater Israel.

Read more: The growing influence of Israel's ultranationalist settler movement

This is not a position held by the majority of Israelis. But Israel's ultra-nationalists wield considerable political power, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government dependent on their support to remain in power. Indeed, days after Trump suggested clearing out Gaza, Smotrich spoke of turning it into an actionable policy.

Speaking with reporters on Monday, he said:“There is nothing to be excited about the weak opposition of Egypt and Jordan to the plan. We saw yesterday how Trump [imposed his will on] Colombia to deport immigrants despite its opposition. When he wants it, it happens.”

The events Smotrich was referring to in Colombia were certainly extraordinary. Outraged at the repatriation of Colombian migrants in military planes, Colombian president Gustavo Petro refused to allow the flights to land.

Trump immediately vowed tariffs on Colombian goods and sanctions on government officials, which drew a furious social media response out of Petro and the start of a (very brief) trade war. But within a few hours, Petro had backed down and Colombia announced it would start receiving migrants, including on US military aircraft.

The White House hailed the agreement as a victory for Trump's hardline immigration strategy. However, according to Amalendu Misra of Lancaster University, Trump's punishing tariff threats and foul rhetoric toward illegal immigrants may only damage the power and position of the US in the region.

His willingness to wage a trade war with countries in Latin America could encourage others to speed up their search for alternative trade partners. And, worse still, he may even push them towards closer relations with governments and ideologies that are inimical to US interests, writes Misra.

Read more: Trump's method for repatriating migrants risks undermining US interests in Latin America

Back in the Middle East, the ceasefire in Gaza has offered the region a break from war. This has included a pledge by Houthi militants in Yemen not to attack commercial ships travelling through the Red Sea.

These attacks have halved the number of ships passing through the Suez Canal, a crucial route for goods moving between Asia and Europe, with many diverting around the southern tip of Africa.

This route adds thousands of miles to the journey, so supply chains have had to deal with higher shipping costs, product delivery delays and increased carbon emissions. In the view of Gokcay Balci, a logistics expert at Leeds University, this disruption is likely to continue .

The situation in the Red Sea remains unpredictable, he writes. The leader of the Houthis, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, said on Monday that the group was“ready to return to escalation again alongside our brothers, the fighters in Palestine”, and warned:“We have our finger on the trigger.” Shipping companies have, unsurprisingly, announced that they will continue to prioritise alternative routes.

The Houthis seem unconvinced that the ceasefire in Gaza will hold. But, at least for now, it is providing civilians with some much-needed respite after more than a year of relentless violence.

Read more: Red Sea crisis: supply chain issues set to continue despite Gaza ceasefire

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