Shock, Awe, and Ethnic Cleansing: Trump's Policy in Gaza

President Donald Trump’s “shock and awe” assault on virtually every major institution in Washington has been, to a degree, successful. There’s a perverse logic behind his radical cabinet appointments, widespread firings and threats to the federal workforce, and his seemingly scattershot Executive Orders that upset apple-carts up and down the street. Like President George W. Bush’s 2003 “shock and awe” blitz of Baghdad at the start of the Iraq war, Trump’s intent is an overwhelming show of power, hitting on multiple fronts in order to disorient and demoralize his opponents.

While most of Trump’s actions have been focused on the domestic front, and have served their purposes, he upped the ante by throwing in a few foreign policy zingers for good measure. He threatened to take back the Panama Canal, to force Denmark to sell him Greenland, and to annex Canada into the US. As reactions from Panama, Denmark, and Canada have made clear, none of Trump's foreign policy “tests” and challenges have had the same impact or success as his bullying forays into domestic policy.

In yet another quixotic foreign policy venture, Trump threw a bombshell into the middle of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He proposed that before the reconstruction of Gaza could begin it would be necessary to “clean out Gaza.” It’s been reported that in separate conversations with Jordan’s King Abdullah and Egyptian President Sisi, Trump pressed both to accept the bulk of Palestinians from Gaza, with Albania and Indonesia being tapped as backups to resettle others.

If Trump’s goal was to shake things up and provoke a reaction, it flopped. None of the countries mentioned have agreed to participate in this bizarre scheme. And beyond a simple rejection, Palestinians have pretty much ignored Trump’s bait, largely owing to their preoccupation with the emotional return to “their rubble” in Gaza’s north and with fighting off an increasingly aggressive occupation in the West Bank.

Let’s be clear: If phase one of this ceasefire holds and moves on to phases two and three, when reconstruction is supposed to begin, some serious issues must be confronted. For example, there are two million homeless Palestinians and hundreds of thousands of demolished homes and buildings. It is estimated that it will take at least two or three years to remove or repurpose the rubble, and decades to build sufficient housing to accommodate those whose homes have been destroyed.

If one didn’t know Trump, or his allies in Israel, one might think he was making a compassionate appeal to neighbors to shelter the homeless Palestinians until Gaza was ready to receive them. But that assumption doesn’t pass the smell test for several reasons. Trump hasn’t given any indication that he is moved by the suffering of the Palestinians. What he finds more appealing are the prospects of building a resort on Gaza’s shores. At the same time, Netanyahu’s coalition has made it clear that they want to evict the Palestinians from Gaza.

Given this, Trump’s “suggestion” that Palestinians be moved to Egypt and Jordan seems to be more like providing his blessing for a new Nakba. The first Nakba of 1948 saw the forced eviction of 700,000 Palestinians from their homes followed by Israel’s demolition of over 420 Palestinian villages to ensure that they couldn’t return. This second Nakba would reverse the process, with Israel first demolishing entire residential areas in Gaza and then “transferring” 2,000,000 Palestinians out of their country.

If we’ve learned anything in dealing with Netanyahu, his coalition and their enablers in Washington, it’s best never to assume that they won’t do the worst thing possible. Trump may be attempting to transfer his “shock and awe” to the Middle East or innocently floating an idea of transfer to facilitate reconstruction. But more likely he is floating a “trial balloon” for his friend Netanyahu, to test the region’s acceptance of a genocidal transfer plan to “solve” the Palestinian problem.

As I noted, with so much demanding their attention, neither Palestinians nor their supporters across the Arab World have reacted in full fury to Trump’s “suggestion.” Nor has a plan been proposed to address how to clear the rubble and rebuild with two million Palestinians under foot.

For any such relocation and reconstruction plan to be accepted, at least two conditions must be met. Israel must fully withdraw from Gaza, surrendering control of access and egress from the territory. This precondition is imperative so that Palestinians can feel confident that if they leave Gaza, they are guaranteed the right to return. Another problem to be addressed is that some Palestinians returning from the south to the north are having difficulty identifying where their homes once stood. To avoid confusion or conflict, if municipal records no longer exist, an effort must be made to map Gaza, so that Palestinians can establish the location of their residence or business.

Without ironclad assurances of return and a plan to facilitate return to specific locations, efforts at relocation and reconstruction instead of solving a problem will only create deeper ones.

For over a century, Palestinians have been pawns played by Western powers and the Zionist movement. They have been dismembered, dispossessed, and dispersed among the nations. Through it all, their national identity and attachment to their lands has only become stronger. Because of this, they’ve remained a persistent thorn in the side of those who oppress them. It’s time for the US to recognize this reality and instead of compounding Palestinian suffering, we should develop a humane plan to end Israel’s veto over ending the occupation and implementing long-denied Palestinian rights.