Washington, Feb 10 (IANS): US President Donald Trump has said Palestinians will not have a right to return to Gaza which he plans for the United States to "own" as it is redeveloped and rebuilt.
The American President has been doubling down on his plan to "take over" Gaza and build "beautiful communities" for the 1.9 million residents of Gaza, who, according to his plan will have to live elsewhere in the region, neighbouring countries in the interim.
"No, they wouldn't," Trump told an interviewer when asked if the Palestinians will have the right to return. "Because they're going to have much better housing … I'm talking about building a permanent place for them, because if they have to return now, it will be years before you could ever - it's not habitable. It will be years before it could happen."
Trump's plan to resettle Gaza residents, which he announced at a recent news briefing with Japan's Prime Minister, has not been received well in the region, except for Israel, which has welcomed it. Both Egypt and Jordan have dismissed it and Cairo has said it will host a Summit of the Arab League following talks at the highest level in recent days "to discuss new and dangerous developments for the Palestinian cause".
Trump was dismissive of skepticism from the region. "I think I could make a deal with Jordan, I think I could make a deal with Egypt. You know, we give them billions and billions of dollars a year," he said in the interview.
The US President spoke to Fox News for a pre-recorded interview to be aired during the Sunday Super Bowl championship match of the American Football League. The US President's interview is a part of the Super Bowl tradition. Trump spoke of multiple issues, including his proposal to annex Canada as the 51st state, which he said he means it; and defended billionaire Elon Musk's moves to cut federal costs.
On his Gaza plans, the President said further, "We'll build beautiful communities for the 1.9 million people. We'll build beautiful communities, safe communities. (They) could be five, six could be two. But we'll build safe communities a little bit away from where they are, where all of this danger is. In the meantime, I would own this. Think of it as a real estate development for the future. It would be a beautiful piece of land".