World must stand up to Donald Trump over stupid, cruel Gaza plan

As well as being stupid, his suggestion that the US should take over the Gaza Strip and that the two million Palestinians living there should be permanently resettled in another country is also cruel, unworkable and, if attempted by force, a clear violation of international law. Claims this would amount to ethnic cleansing seem difficult to deny.

"The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too," Trump said, boasting it would be transformed into “the Riviera of the Middle East”. His remarks prompted journalist Andrew Neil, speaking to Times Radio, to joke that the US President might next seek to annex the Western Isles, where Trump’s mother was born.

Two-state solution

However, while it’s hard not to laugh at such outrageous remarks, the situation in Gaza is heartbreakingly serious. Vast numbers of Gazans are in desperate need of shelter, with many homes reduced to rubble, as well as aid to rebuild their lives after Israel’s war against Hamas.

Egypt and Jordan, which Trump suggested could take Palestinians from Gaza, strongly criticised his plan, as did other US allies in the region. Palestinians themselves stressed they wanted to stay.

Thankfully, Keir Starmer, who must tread a fine line with the new US administration, recognised he had to express his opposition. The people of Gaza “must be allowed home... must be allowed to rebuild and we should be with them in that rebuild on the way to a two-state solution", he said.

There is a suggestion that Trump backed down on his threat to impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico after trenchant criticism, like the Wall Street Journal’s, and a poor reaction from the markets. Hopefully, the widespread condemnation of his bizarre ideas about Gaza will have a similar effect.

A two-state solution represents the only real path towards peace. The world must stand up to Trump and keep pursuing it.