“Something has to happen,” Trump said in January. “It’s literally a demolition site right now. Almost everything is demolished, and people are dying there. I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing at a different location where they can maybe live in peace for a change.”
He said on Tuesday that the “Gaza thing has not worked – it’s never worked” and that he’d like to see Egypt and Jordan accept Palestinian refugees.
“I think they should get a good, fresh, beautiful piece of land, and we get some people to put up the money to build it and make it nice and make it habitable and enjoyable,” Trump said. “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 land could be in Jordan, Egypt or other places, he said. He suggested that Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region who want to see peace could help pay for the relocation costs.
His national security adviser, Michael Waltz, had pushed back earlier on Tuesday on a suggestion that Trump would try to forcibly remove Palestinians from Gaza.
Waltz told reporters at the White House that Palestinians are living among unexploded ammunition and rubble and there has to be a realistic conversation about reconstruction.
“A lot of people were looking at very unrealistic timelines. We’re talking 10,15 years,” he said. “Not the five years.”
Pressed on whether they’d ever be able to go back, Waltz said, “That’s what we’re working through.”
