The Next Israeli-American Day for Gaza and the West Bank

During a joint press conference with Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, an NBC correspondent asked US President Donald Trump what authority the United States has over the Gaza Strip that allows it to displace its residents to neighboring countries. He answered her with the arrogance of a businessman, that the United States will remain responsible for Gaza in the long term, and this will lead to stability in this part of the Middle East. He continued by saying: "Many of those I spoke to liked the idea of the United States owning that piece of land (the Gaza Strip) and developing it to create thousands of jobs in it. He added: "This land is unattainable for anyone to look at today, with scenes of death, destruction, debris and collapsed buildings everywhere." Netanyahu expressed his support for this idea, describing it as an "original idea"!!

Netanyahu will not hesitate to gift the Gaza Strip to Trump after displacing its residents (if he is able to do so), and if the Trump administration’s pressure on Egypt and Jordan to receive the displaced Palestinians, to build resorts, hotels, casinos and for the white slave trade, bears fruit. But what will Netanyahu get in return? By agreeing to a ceasefire with Hamas and a prisoner exchange with it, Netanyahu replaced the slogan of “absolute victory” after his failure to achieve it with the slogan of “absolute barter.” This was clearly evident in his dismissal of the heads of Mossad and Shin Bet from leading the indirect negotiations with Hamas, and assigning them to the Minister of Strategic Affairs, Trump’s friend, Ron Dermer. This indicates Netanyahu’s vision for the next day in Gaza politically.

Netanyahu is trading Trump for Israel’s commitment to a ceasefire in Gaza, completing the second and third stages, annexing the West Bank or parts of it to Israel, displacing what Israel can displace from it, and ensuring that the United States does not support the establishment of a Palestinian state during the Trump administration’s negotiations with Saudi Arabia to normalize its relations with Israel, in addition to Israel receiving American military and political support to attack Iran to eliminate its weapons capabilities and nuclear program.

Netanyahu also feels the danger of his government disintegrating, in light of the position of his far-right ally Smotrich, who threatens to demolish the temple of the Israeli government and its people if the war on Gaza does not continue. He also feels the danger of the possibility of the end of his political future, in light of the significant decline in his popularity in opinion polls, despite his agreement to a ceasefire and a prisoner exchange deal. Therefore, Netanyahu sees Trump as a savior for him by implementing what he promised regarding Gaza and the West Bank, and in other files related to the Middle East that serve Israel's interests, which will compensate him for the image of the failure in the war on Gaza, by appearing as the one who achieved strategic gains for Israel, and this will serve him in remaining in power if the extremist minister Smotrich carries out his threat to withdraw from the government, as well as in increasing his popularity among Israeli voters, which has declined, as recent opinion polls in Israel have shown, despite his agreement to a ceasefire and the return of Israeli prisoners from Gaza.

Trump’s statements regarding declaring Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank or parts of it are contradictory. He had implicitly indicated in his statements before Netanyahu’s visit to the White House that he supported the annexation of the West Bank to Israel, saying that the area of Israel is very small compared to the areas of countries in the Middle East, comparing it to a pen he held in his hand, comparing it to the area of the desk he was sitting at. However, during the joint press conference with Netanyahu, he announced, in response to a question about whether he recognized Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank, saying, “We will discuss this with representatives of Israel, and people like this idea, but we have not taken a position yet, and we will issue an announcement on this matter in the next four weeks.” He added, “I am not saying anything about two states, or one state, or no state.”

At the same press conference, in response to a question about whether it was possible to reach a normalization agreement with Saudi Arabia without establishing a Palestinian state, Netanyahu said, "Saudi Arabia will help, it wants peace in the Middle East." He added, "I believe that peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia is not only possible, but it will happen." However, Saudi Arabia's response was not delayed regarding the uprooting of Palestinians from Gaza and the annexation of the West Bank to Israel, as the Saudi Foreign Ministry stated in a statement, "The Kingdom rejects the uprooting of Palestinians from their land, and it will not establish relations with Israel without the establishment of a Palestinian state, and this position is non-negotiable."

In response to Trump's statements about "cleansing" Gaza of Palestinians and imposing Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank, the Egyptian and Jordanian responses rejected this, for reasons related to defending the right of Palestinians to live in their homeland in an independent state, and because these plans threaten the national security of both countries. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry announced in a statement that Egypt rejects any infringement on the rights of the Palestinian people, whether through settlement, annexation of land, or by evacuating that land of its owners, through displacement, whether temporarily or long-term, while Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi announced Jordan's rejection of any attempt to displace Palestinians, and that it will not accept any solution to the Palestinian issue at Jordan's expense.

The positions of the US administration on the Palestinian people, regarding the day after the Gaza Strip and the West Bank (even if they have not crystallized more clearly yet), these positions indicate that Israel and the United States believe that the Palestinian people are a people superfluous to humanity, and are trying to erase them, ignoring their successes in thwarting dozens of attempts to liquidate them since 1948, and their determination not to have the same fate as the Red Indians, for example. Their population today has reached 13 million people, half of them in the homeland, and the other half in exile, and they are still determined to return and establish their independent state, which confirms the impossibility of erasing their existence, and that the US and Israeli plans are nothing more than “ploughing the sea.”