Trump's Gaza plan slammed as ethnic cleansing by UN
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The plan has sparked outrage across the region, with Palestinian resistance groups and Arab nations rejecting any attempt to displace Palestinians from their homeland.
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Displaced Palestinians walk on a road in central Gaza to return to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025 (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
US President Donald Trump's proposal to forcibly relocate Palestinians from Gaza has been widely denounced as a grave violation of international law. Navi Pillay, chair of the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, condemned the plan, calling it a blatant act of ethnic cleansing.
"Trump is woefully ignorant of international law and the law of occupation. Forcible displacement of an occupied group is an international crime, and amounts to ethnic cleansing," Pillay told Politico.
Trump outlined his vision for Gaza, suggesting that "Israel" hand over control of the besieged territory to the United States after the war. He described Gaza as a "demolition site" and proposed that its Palestinian residents be transferred to other countries, including Jordan and Egypt. He did not rule out the deployment of American troops and vowed to visit Gaza himself.
The plan has sparked outrage across the region, with Palestinian resistance groups and Arab nations rejecting any attempt to displace Palestinians from their homeland. Egypt has called for an emergency summit on February 27 to discuss the direct threat to Palestinian sovereignty. Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the UAE have also condemned the proposal, affirming their rejection of any forced resettlement plan.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, however, welcomed the idea, dismissing Gaza as a "failed experiment." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu similarly expressed openness to Trump's plan, calling it a "new and fresh" approach—an endorsement that aligns with "Israel's" long-standing policies of erasing Palestinian presence from historic lands.
Read more: 'Everybody loves it,' Trump says on Gaza ethnic cleansing plan
Critics warn that this proposal mirrors previous Israeli efforts to forcibly remove Palestinians, including the ongoing displacement in the West Bank and East al-Quds. The attempt to reframe ethnic cleansing as a "development project" has been met with fierce opposition, including from Europe, as international legal experts argue that forced population transfers violate the Geneva Conventions.
