By Osman Softic || 19 February 2025
The entire global community was outraged by irrational and offensive bluster the US president Donald Trump uttered when he boasted with a brilliant idea for reinventing Gaza’s dystopian future, which he apparently plans to accomplish by voluntarily resettling the Palestinians of Gaza by enticing them to leave the territory for a “better life” elsewhere, and taking ownership of at least best seaside locations of Gaza so he and his real estate cronies at Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners, in collaboration with their wealthy Arab donors could remake the strip of land which president Trump described as “demolition site” in front of Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu, into a Dubai or Monaco-like riviera.
Trump, of course, chose not to directly blame the Israeli leader for the wreckage of Gaza. However, judging by his facial expression, Bibi seemed to have understood Trump’s message, perhaps even better than the rest of the world did.
The Gaza conundrum
For many decades and particularly since the 2007 Hamas takeover of Gaza, the Palestinian refugee enclave had been under a medieval-type siege, worse than Stalingrad during World War II or Sarajevo during the Serbian aggression at the end of the past century. For the Israeli occupation regime,
Gaza had served primarily as a large open-air prison and a “human warehouse” for the Palestinian people who had been expelled by force from their towns, villages, hamlets and Olive groves, during the Nakba of 1948 which Israeli terrorist militias Lehi (Stern gang), Irgun, Haganah and particularly its elite strike force (Palmach) of which Sarajevo-born David (Dado) Elazar who later became Commander of the Joint Chiefs of IDF (commander of Israeli occupation army) during the tenure of Golda Meir as prime minister, was perhaps one of the most well-known members.
Those armed gangs dislodged the Palestinians killing many in the process, and committing war crimes against civilians such as torture and rape. Palestinians of Gaza are descendants of those refugees from historic Palestine whose land Israel had then occupied for Jewish settlers. Trump would now like to transform Gaza into an attractive and luxurious riviera of the Levantine Mediterranean coast. Everyone of rational mind understands that the Palestinians of Gaza, who number 2.3 million (minus those who have been killed in Israeli genocidal campaign – not less than 70,000 dead by most conservative estimates including the acclaimed British medical Lancet journal) cannot and will not accept to be moved.
They would rather die on their land instead. If Israel was unable to accomplish it by throwing five times the equivalent destructive explosive power of atomic bombs the US used to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki, surely no one else would be able to expel them, one would assume.
Incidentally, Trump’s pronouncements have perturbed the otherwise disinterested and tight-lipped European political elites and their compliant mainstream opinion makers in the west and their counterparts in the wealthy Arab vassal US states in the Persian Gulf who had been shamefully silent for the entire duration of Genocide in Gaza, while persistently parroting well-rehearsed Zionist lobbies-manufactured platitudes and mantras that “Israel had the right to self-defense”. The Netanyahu regime was killing Palestinian civilians at will and destroying Gaza’s entire infrastructure, while western liberal as well as right-wing elites, seemed to go along with it.
Head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and her country’s youthful, arrogant and hard-headed unpopular foreign minister Annalena (Charlotte Alma) Baerbock, who incidentally transformed her Green political party (political platform usually associated with humanitarian and progressive causes all over the world) into a war-mongering governing coalition partner, were among major cheerleaders for Israeli genocide in Gaza, acting as apologists for Netanyahu and his regime in the west, again putting their country on the wrong side of history for the 2nd time. So did the rest of European liberal elites.
No political regime in modern history of mankind since Hitler’s Third Reich and its holocaust of European Jews, had committed such a horrendous and monstrous crime as the Israeli regime under Netanyahu did to the Palestinians of Gaza. What an irony of history. Worse still, Genocide in Gaza was aided and abetted by American, British and European weaponry and high-tech intelligence support systems and artificial intelligence such as that of Microsoft and other tech giants.
They used Palestine as a laboratory for testing Israeli high-tech weapons on the battlefield, as Antony Loewenstein, Sydney-based Australian Jewish researcher and journalist meticulously documented in his book “The Palestine Laboratory”. They also protected Israeli war criminals from prosecution by using diplomatic prowess of the US in the UN Security Council, notwithstanding the clear positions of the two international courts (ICJ and ICC) that both proclaimed Israeli regime’s actions as genocide-like and sought its perpetrators to face justice for their crimes against humanity.
Trump’s bigotry
Then, all of sudden, European and American political liberal elites are awakened and even perturbed by the mere rhetoric on the part of mercurial American new (old) president Donald Trump who is already known for his crazy rants which he usually forgets the next day and moves on. Trump’s maverick style coupled with his irrational, offensive and often humiliating simplistic rhetorical acrobatics towards his interlocutors have now become part and parcel of his presidential style, and in my humble opinion, should always be taken with a grain of salt.
Trump, whenever he speaks with anyone of substance, addresses his messages to a diverse range of his supporters who are as divergent and heterogenous in their respective ideologies, world views and allegiances, as the rainbow itself. Trump’s rhetoric therefore should never be taken literally and at face value. Rather, it should be perceived, evaluated and ascertained calmly depending on the people who he chooses to address and the goals he plans to achieve by it.
Donald Trump is a different president who needs to be understood on his own terms, not on the terms of western liberal elites whom he is bent on destroying as his primary political rivals and ideological adversaries. There is a huge moral dissonance in the attitudes of liberal western elites towards Trump that needs explaining and dissecting here.
One phenomenon in particular begs the question, how was it possible that most European and American liberal elites were so silent for the past 16 months while “genocide Joe”, as former American president is now known, had provided his country’s full military, diplomatic, intelligence and logistical support to the most extreme Israeli regime in its 77 years of existence. Why are they only now moved and angered by the mere words uttered by president Trump, which may not even be serious, let alone put into actionable plan, when they happily went along the Biden’s and Bibi’s genocide in Gaza and the destruction of civilian population and their homes in Lebanon.
Trump announced that the US may take over the Gaza strip and transfer the Palestinians like cattle to Jordan and Egypt, or even to Indonesia, only to build a luxury riviera along the Mediterranean coast as a stepping stone before bringing peace and prosperity to the entire Middle East so everyone can live happily ever after. Not only did his bluster sound outrageous but it was simply undoable, at least not without igniting a major catastrophic regional war between Israel, backed by the US, and Jordan and Egypt, with even more dire consequences from what we have witnessed for the past year.
Naturally, Trump seems to be a “big picture guy” and he uses a “broad brush” approach to policy ideas, hence his bluster did not contain any detailed strategy as to how he planned to achieve his objectives in Gaza. Perhaps he was just sounding one of the scenarios to test the waters and gauge the Arab reactions, while simultaneously singing desirable music to Netanyahu and Miriam Adelson who sponsored him with 100 million dollars, and to millions of diehard Jewish and Christian Zionists in America who supported Trump’s reelection campaign.
On another, not less important level, Trump may have inadvertently awakened, wittingly or not, the sleepy and disinterested Arabian kingdoms and dictatorships to take initiative of their own and offer an alternative solution for Gaza and its future, when they were not willing to assist the Palestinians militarily or by diplomatic or economic pressures on Israel.
The insipid Arab states
Arab states have largely sat on the sidelines and did not move a finger to help the Palestinian struggle, especially during the past 16 months of genocide in Gaza. The Islamic Republic of Iran chose to bear the burden of the entire support for Palestinians and Lebanese patriots in their efforts to resist the American-supported Israeli onslaught. Iranian allies: Hezbollah of Lebanon, Ansarullah of Yemen and various non-state Shia armed militias in Iraq, sacrificed a lot of blood and scarce resources to help the Palestinians withstand the aggression by much more potent adversaries.
There were many options for Arab states to take in order to stand up to Israel, but they chose to take none and remained passive and disinterested, merely parroting long discredited plans, such as the 20-year old long ‘Arab Peace Initiative’ for establishing the Palestinian state along the line of “two state solution”, a euphemism for doing nothing, so Israel can proceed to occupy the remaining parts of Palestine as it had done since the 1993 Oslo Accords, in hope that Israel will crush Hamas and eliminate the threat they might have to confront in the future if Hamas remained resilient and galvanize sympathy and ideological support among the Arabs in the streets of Arab capitals, which appears to exactly have happened, given Hamas’s unprecedented popularity among ordinary Arab citizens.
Trump likes to sing different music to many different ears. He may have even signaled to Benjamin Netanyahu and his even more extremist allies Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir (the latter in the meantime resigned the government post of minister for security in protest over the ceasefire deal). His coded message to Bibi may have been as simple as “let’s forget about the establishment of an independent Palestinian state”, as seasoned American Jewish academic and peace activist Alon Ben-Meir recently put it, “This land is the ancestral land of the Jewish people and it must be restored to its rightful owners”.
Palestinians need to be prepared for the second Nakba (catastrophe), but this time the exodus will be well organized and the arrangement will be made for them to be settled in Jordan and Egypt and live happily ever after’. I do not believe for one second that Trump did not understand the real gravity of the situation here. Yes, Gaza is in ruins, and it may take many years and tens of billions of dollars to rebuild its infrastructure and residential homes to make it livable.
But Palestinians belong to Gaza where their ancestors lived for many generations. This is where their cultural heritage is and they will not leave their land where their children hope to build a better future, Ben-Meir added.
The Western hypocrisy
The undeniable fact is, most western liberal political elites do not care about the future of Palestine nor do they worry about the human rights and welfare of Palestinians. They are worried about the fact that Trump has revealed the real nature of western democracies and liberal elites in particular and their hypocrisy and double standards.
Ethnic cleaning of Palestine and creation of greater Israel have long been accepted policy platforms within western circles and the so-called peace plans and initiatives were mere smokescreen to placate the Palestinians while granting Israelis more time to accomplish their task incrementally. The role of various US administrations in undermining the implementation of the Oslo Peace Process had been diligently documented by one of the most acclaimed historians of Palestine Rashid Khalidi, recently retired professor of Arab and Islamic civilization at the Columbia University in New York.
Khalidi explained this shameful process in his book titled “The Brokers of Deceit”. He concluded that there was only a process, but not the peace process. Western liberal elites are also worried about what might happen to Israel and its genocidal regime. They are worried that the displacement of the Palestinians on a larger scale (2nd Nakba) may seriously destabilize the Israeli immediate region, especially the American client monarchy of Jordan, which would be first to be affected by potential influx of Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank. This, should it ever occur, would undoubtedly shake the foundation of this monarchy which Jewish far right extremists seriously view as “the only Palestinian majority state” they may be prepared to tolerate.
Hence, the nervousness in Amman and urgent visit of its monarch Abdullah II to the White House where he, visibly shaken and frightened for his throne, have promised president Trump he would look after American interests and consult with Cairo and Riyadh to help find the best solution for Gaza. More than fifty percent of Jordan’s population is of Palestinian origin. Truth be told, they also hold full Jordanian citizenship (the credit which Jordanian monarchy deserves to be given). Jordan is an indispensable ally (vassal) of America and its ruling Hashemite dynasty is handsomely rewarded by the US more than 1.3 billion in financial aid to sustain it in power in order to safeguard the peace treaty with Israel. Jordan’s primary strategic role for the US is to guard the eastern flank of Israel from any “terrorist” threats.
Therefore, we have seen Jordanian Air Force active involvement in shooting down Iranian drones and ballistic missiles directed at Israel, while allowing its air space to be used by Israel for attacking Iran at will. Furthermore, Jordan shares a 350-kilometer-long border with Israel and serves as important barrier against the influx of weapons into the occupied West Bank, thus preventing armed resistance to Israeli occupation to gain momentum in the occupied territory, such as the one we have seen in Jenin in which more than 20,000 Palestinians have been displaced during the past year.
The treacherous Palestinian Authority (PA)
Additional insurance for Israel is the servitude of the so-called Palestinian Authority (PA) led by Mahmoud Abbas, who merged the PA, Fatah and the PLO into a single entity he controls with an iron fist. The PA, most observers agree, serves as a contractor for the Israeli occupation regime to facilitate ethnic cleansing of the West Bank and disposition of its Palestinian residents, which partially transferred the responsibility for policing the occupied territory to Mahmoud Abbas’ security forces trained and equipped by Americans and their western allies, killing the two birds with one stone, ensuring more “benevolent occupation” on one hand while simultaneously sawing divisions between various Palestinian factions on the other, hence shattering any genuine chances for intra-Palestinian reconciliation which is necessary for establishing joint anti occupation Palestinian resistance front.
PA enjoys miniscule 17 percent support among Palestinians in the West Bank, according to the most recent survey by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey, published in September 2024, states a Middle East Monitor article, while Hamas enjoys an overwhelming support in both territories. The PA’s competing vision for Gaza is to have it unified with the West Bank under one governing authority which it controls. However, the PA administrators in Ramallah are aware that they cannot regain control of Gaza without the unconditional support of the United States. Palestinian leadership in Ramallah is aware that only the Trump administration can exert enough pressure on the Israeli government which also has consistently opposed the corrupt PA involvement in administering the postwar Gaza. Israel insists that PA must be reformed as it is corrupt to the core. Sadly, Israel is right on this count.
However, the real motive for Israel is to maintain a division between the Fatah and Hamas. Israel works closely with the UAE authorities to find an alternative solution, and one of the options is to bring back Mohammed Dahlan, former head of the PLO’s security force in Gaza before the Hamas 2007 takeover. Dahlan is a bitter rival to Mahmoud Abbas’ in the Fatah movement and fled to exile in Abu Dhabi where he served as advisor to its ruler. Dahlan also holds Serbian citizenship and facilitated major investment by the UAE in Serbia and murky weapons deals.
Late last year the PA launched a ruthless security operation in Jenin, allegedly targeting criminal and militant groups in this refugee camp. Many agreed that this was meant to send a signal to the incoming Trump administration to demonstrate both the PA’s willingness and capacity to maintain security control in Gaza, if given opportunity. According to Middle East Eye, at a meeting in Riyadh on 28th of January, Hussein Al-Sheikh, secretary-general of the PLO Executive Committee, told Steve Witkoff that the PA is willing to confront Hamas militarily if it proves necessary to wrest control of Gaza.
With such treacherous leadership, no doubt, Palestinian people do not need an Israeli enemy. There seems to be enough willingness and power to suppress its own people by the PA authority.
Osman Softić is a Research Fellow at the Islamic Renaissance Front. He holds a BA degree in Islamic Studies from the Faculty of Islamic Studies of the University of Sarajevo and has a Master degree in International Relations from the University of New South Wales (UNSW). He contributed commentaries on Middle Eastern and Islamic Affairs for the web portal Al Jazeera Balkans, Online Opinion, Engage and Open Democracy. Osman holds dual Bosnian and Australian citizenship.
