WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said Palestinians would not have the right of return to Gaza under his proposal to redevelop the enclave, according to excerpts from a Fox News interview.
In a transcript released on Monday, Trump added that he thought he could make a deal with Jordan and Egypt to take the displaced Palestinians, saying “we give them billions and billions of dollars a year.”
Asked if Palestinians would have the right to return, Trump told Fox: “No, they wouldn’t because they’re going to have much better housing,” the transcript said.
“I’m talking about building a permanent place for them because if they have to return now, it’ll be years before you could ever — it’s not habitable. It would be years before it could happen.”
In a shock announcement last week, Trump proposed resettling the 2.2 million Palestinians of the Gaza Strip permanently. His remarks to Fox were the first to say they will have no right of return.
When last week Trump introduced his proposals, including one for the U.S. to take over Gaza, he drew rebukes from allies throughout the world. Palestinians and regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia rejected the proposal outright.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who met Trump last week, praised the proposal to resettle Palestinians last week, saying: “They can leave, they can then come back, they can relocate and come back. But you have to rebuild Gaza.”
In portions of the interview broadcast on Sunday, Trump reiterated his plan to buy and own Gaza.
In the latest excerpt released on Monday, Trump told Fox that between two and six communities could be built for the Palestinians “a little bit away from where they are, where all of this danger is.”
“I would own this. Think of it as a real estate development for the future. It would be a beautiful piece of land. No big money spent,” he told Fox.
(Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Howard Goller)
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