United States President Donald Trump caused alarm this month when, standing alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, he announced that the US would “take control” of the Gaza Strip and resettle Palestinians in other countries.
Trump framed the expulsion of the Palestinian population from Gaza – left unrecognizable after Israeli bombing – as a humanitarian necessity, citing the dangers of unexploded ordnance and unstable structures.
Palestinians could live in “beautiful houses,” Trump added, just not in Gaza itself.
However, Palestinians argue that promises of new developments in foreign countries overlook their central aspiration: the right to live with dignity and equal rights in their historic homeland.
“My first reaction was disbelief. That a president would call to displace two million people from their own land,” said Leila Giries, a Palestinian living in California.
For Giries and other Palestinians, the call for expulsion evokes painful memories of dispossession and exile.
Giries herself is a survivor of what Palestinians refer to as the Nakba, or “the catastrophe.”
The term refers to the forced expulsion of over 750,000 Palestinians by Zionist paramilitaries during Israel’s founding in 1948. Residents of many Palestinian towns and villages were barred from returning, labeled as “infiltrators” by the newly established Israeli state.
Giries keeps a bag her mother carried while fleeing their village of Ayn Karim framed on the wall of her California home, along with a key to their home in historic Palestine, which was demolished after their expulsion.
These items symbolize both the pain of exile and her determination to maintain ties to her homeland.
“I left Palestine when I was eight years old, but I cannot forget it. It’s where my parents and grandparents are from. I am connected to the land,” Giries said.
“When I see photos of crowds of displaced people marching on the road in Gaza, it breaks my heart. It brings back memories, memories, memories.”
‘Palestinians will not vanish and die’
Following backlash from Palestinians, rights groups, and leaders from countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan, Trump softened his stance, stating he would only “suggest” the adoption of his plan.
The US president had previously insisted he would “own” Gaza, claiming its seaside location made it ideal for high-end real estate.
This week, Trump even shared a bizarre AI-generated video on social media depicting Gaza filled with skyscrapers and luxury resorts, showing him and Netanyahu relaxing by a pool. Notably absent were the Palestinians who have called Gaza home for generations.
“Only a fool would think it’s possible to cleanse Gaza of the Palestinians so you can build a real estate project,” said Michael Kardoush, who fled his home in Nazareth after it came under Israeli control in 1948. Palestinians within Israeli territory lived under martial law with no rights until 1966.
“The reality is that Palestinians will not vanish and die.”
However, Israeli leaders and officials have continued to eagerly promote Trump’s vision, seeing an opportunity to advance a long-standing goal of depopulating Gaza.
In a statement last week, Netanyahu said Israel was “committed to US President Trump’s plan for the creation of a different Gaza,” which he previously praised as “revolutionary.”
Muhammad Shehada, a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations who grew up in Gaza, told Al Jazeera that Israeli and US efforts to force Palestinians off their land have been a consistent feature of Gaza’s modern history.
“When Israel took over Gaza in 1967, one of the first things it did was destroy refugee camps to try to get people to leave. They even offered money, foreign passports, and shuttles to encourage people to do so,” he said.
When such inducements failed, Israel resorted to more coercive methods, from deadly military raids to a years-long blockade that created dire living conditions in Gaza even before the most recent war.
“They have tried every trick in the book,” said Shehada.
However, he added that these efforts have rarely succeeded and often faced firm opposition from Palestinians, who see attempts to move them out of Gaza as part of a larger effort to nullify their national claims.
Shehada noted that in 1953, a plan to resettle 12,000 Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt’s Sinai was halted after a popular revolt in the Strip.
Attachment to the land
Even during Israel’s recent 15-month military campaign in Gaza, unprecedented for its destructiveness and human toll, many Palestinians remained deeply attached to their homeland.
Arwa Shurrab, a 58-year-old woman born in Gaza but now living in southern California, said family members who remained in the Strip refused to leave until they felt they had no choice.
“I tried to convince my sister to go to Egypt where it would be safer, but she said she would only leave if the building she was staying in was bombed,” Shurrab said.
She explained that her sister and her family were displaced multiple times during the war. They finally decided to leave when a tent they were staying in was bombed, though fortunately, they were not inside at the time.
“She is a pediatrician and wanted to stay in Gaza to help her people. For that, she has lost everything,” Shurrab added.
Even though Israel’s bombing campaign was paused under a tenuous ceasefire last month, many Palestinians in Gaza remain in precarious conditions, with entire neighborhoods reduced to rubble.
During the war, Israeli forces were accused of deliberately destroying homes, agricultural lands, and infrastructure for medical care, water, and electricity to make it impossible for Palestinians to return home after the fighting.
But many Gaza residents remain determined to rebuild their lives.
“Palestinians are deeply connected to the land. Everyone I know who left wants to return. It’s a question of if, not when,” said Shurrab.
“Trump’s comments didn’t affect me at all. I don’t take it seriously because I know my family and the people of Gaza. They are not going to be uprooted from their land,” she added. “So Trump can say whatever he wants, but it doesn’t make it so.”
Stay updated with the latest happenings by visiting ZTC News and Z News Today for more news and insights.