Donald Trump's Gaza plan raises 'ethnic cleansing' fear as US would 'violate international law'

Donald Trump's proposal that the US "takes over" the Gaza Strip raises fears of "ethinic cleansing" and would be a "violation of international law", an expert has claimed. Trump has been criticised for his comments which came at a White House news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He detailed a plan to build new settlements for Palestinians outside the Gaza Strip and also proposed for the US to take "ownership" in redeveloping the war-torn territory into "the Riviera of the Middle East".

“The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too,” President Trump said. “We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site, and get rid of the destroyed buildings, level it out, create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs.”. Trump's comments were swiftly rejected and denounced on Wednesday by American allies and adversaries. Inderjeet Parmar, professor of International Politics at the City, University of London, believes Trump's proposal is a "violation of international law".

He told The Mirror: "President Trump by speaking about Gaza as in need of 'cleaning up' has raised the spectre of ethnic cleansing of Palestinians – the mass removal of the population – which is a violation of international law. He’s effectively ramped up a process supported by the Biden administration that enabled the Israeli state’s war on Gaza since October 2023. This war – which has led to the near total destruction of Gaza, the deaths of tens of thousands, and the displacement of the whole population – has been declared “plausible genocide” by the ICJ as well as numerous UN bodies, and there’s an arrest warrant by the ICC for PM Netanyahu.

"Yet, the latter sat with Trump yesterday in the White House and was praised as a great leader and ally. Trump has indicated that the US will annex Gaza and remove 1.8million Gazans to neighbouring states. The population of Gaza before 2023 was 2.2million. Implicitly, Trump has indicated the reduction of the population of Gaza by 400,000 people.". Egypt, Jordan and other American allies in the Middle East have already rejected the idea of relocating more than 2 million Palestinians from Gaza elsewhere in the region. Following Trump’s remarks, Egypt’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement stressing the need for rebuilding “without moving the Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip”.

The expert believes a two-state solution has been "further exposed as dead in the water" following the president's comments, he added: "Trump has already declared he wants to make into vassal states or colonies Canada, Panama, Greenland, possibly Mexico. In that context, his comments or plans for Gaza indicate an even more massive global offensive to cement US global primacy, a signal to the world – China, Russia, Iran – and America’s allies, that US naked power is the agenda for the next few years.".

"By also withdrawing the US from the UN Human Rights Council and UNRWA – the UN agency specifically providing humanitarian aid to the Palestinians – the US appears to have signed the death warrant of the international rules-based order. This was a key aspect of the Biden administration too but Trump has taken the process to its logical conclusion. The so-called 2 state solution has been further exposed as dead in the water. Every aspect of US power is being weaponised – economic, financial, diplomatic, and the intention is to increase the lethality and war readiness of the US military too.”.