
Since the nineteenth century, the United States has played a major role in supporting the Zionist project, both at the religious or political level. This was embodied by personalities such as Ward Krison, who was one of the first Americans to support the idea of encouraging Zionist settlement in Palestine, reaching Donald Trump, who adopted policies seeking to reshape the future of Gaza to serve Zionist interests.
Trump and Gaza … economic vision or forced displacement?
Since US President Donald Trump has returned to the political scene as President of the United States of America, his controversial statements have escalated on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Especially with regard to the Gaza Strip.
Amid the war of constant extermination on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, Trump presented several ideas related to the future of the Strip and its inhabitants, including imposing American control on Gaza, resettlement of the Palestinian population in other countries, and canceling the right of return, then he said what might benefit otherwise.
Trump said that the United States should take control of the Gaza Strip after the end of the military operations between Israel and the Hamas movement.
It is believed that this measure will contribute to the reconstruction of Gaza and turn it into an economic and tourist center, noting that the current conditions make the sector inappropriate for living. Trump justified this idea of the need to find a comprehensive solution that reshapes the future of Gaza in line with regional stability.
Therefore, Trump suggested in January 2025 to resettle the residents of Gaza in other countries, such as Jordan and Egypt, while providing financial incentives for these countries to accommodate the displaced Palestinians. It is believed that this option will give Gaza residents an opportunity for a better life away from the harsh living conditions inside the Strip, considering that Gaza is no longer eligible for housing after the widespread destruction it witnessed.
Trump stressed that the Palestinians who leave Gaza will not have the right to return, considering that the region is no longer suitable for resettlement of the population after the tremendous damage to the infrastructure. He believes that this procedure is necessary to find a new demographic reality that prevents collective return and establishes a different stage in dealing with the future of the sector.
In the aftermath of Trump’s statements, the Israeli Minister of Defense issued directives to prepare plans that allow Palestinians wishing to leave Gaza to go out to other countries, and despite the lack of clarity of the mechanism of implementing this plan, it is in line with some of the theses that Trump presented on the future of the sector.
When Kushner, the news is certain!
According to a report published on the Hebrew “Zaman of Israel” website, “Times of Israel”, the outlines of the plan arose to Joseph Bilzmann, a professor at George Washington University, who published an article in July 2024 entitled “An Economic Plan to rebuild Gaza.”
The proposal determines a plan for states and foreign figures “for investment” in rebuilding Gaza under a 50 -year rental contract, after which the issue of granting “sovereignty” will be addressed to the population. According to the plan, the primary focus of reconstruction will be on the tourism sector, including building hotels on the beach.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump told Netanyahu in a phone call in late Summer 2024 that Gaza was a “main real estate piece”, and that it may be an ideal location for building hotels.
Bilzmann in Podcasts in August said his article “went to Trump’s supporters, because they were the first to take care of it, and not for Biden’s supporters.” He added that Trump’s son -in -law, Jared Kushner, “wants to invest his money in it … is running their saliva to enter.”
Bilzmann said that upon his proposal, the Gaza Strip will be “completely evacuated,” noting that “the United States can pressure Egypt” to accept refugees from Gaza, because “Egypt is a bankrupt state” with great debts to the United States.
Kushner has previously described the entire Arab Israeli conflict as “nothing more than a real estate conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians,” as he put it. He said in an event in Harvard in February/ / February 2024 “Real Estate on the Gaza’s waterfront can be of great value, if people focus on providing livelihoods.”
The first roots of American settlement thought
Trump’s comments brought back to mind similar historical ideas presented by Warder Cresson in the nineteenth century. Criston, who was the first American consul in Jerusalem, is an early preacher of the idea of returning the Jews to Palestine, turned from Christianity to Judaism and his name to Mikhail Bazam Israel.
One of the most prominent advocates of the idea of resettlement of the Jews in Palestine was that God created the United States to support the Jews, and that the American eagle would achieve the prophecy of Elisha to cover the land with its wings. Criston announced that “there is no salvation for the Jews except by their coming to Israel,” and devoted his life to this vision.
On June 22, 1844, Criston left for Palestine, carrying an American flag and a white pigeon that he intended to launch upon his arrival. When Criston arrived in Palestine, and settled in Jerusalem, he founded a “consular seal” and extended American protection on the Jews of the city, many of whom were poor dependent on external aid.
In 1852, he founded a Jewish agricultural colony to train migrants in agriculture, and tried to establish a settlement in Wadi Rafiem with the help of Musa Montviopi, but his efforts failed.
However, his ideas inspired others, such as Clorinda Minor, which established the Agriculture School of Handicrafts for Jews on the Holy Land near the village of Artas, near Bethlehem. It established the “Jabal Al -Amal” settlement near Jaffa, which Criston bought as a “model American farm” to teach Jews how to grow pineapple, bananas and lemon.
Geography of Palestine
What brings Krison and Trump is a belief in reshaping the demographic and political reality of Palestine in favor of the Zionist project. While Criston sought to resettle the Jews in Palestine by establishing agricultural settlements, Trump is seeking to re -engineer the current reality through forced displacement policies and reconstruction under US control.
As this approach continued throughout history, Trump’s statements regarding Gaza reflected an extension of the American settlement thought that began with Ward Krison in the nineteenth century. Just as Criston sought to seize Palestine through settlement, Trump and Kushner’s theses come with an economic interface, but in essence it is based on the same goal: emptying the land and reshaping it to serve the Zionist project.
While the methods and speeches changed, the approach remains fixed; Re -engineering the Palestinian reality according to the interests of the dominant forces, in continuity that reflects how history restores itself from Criston to Trump, every time in a new style, but with one colonial spirit.
The opinions in the article do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al -Jazeera.