Palestinians should leave Gaza permanently: Trump

New York [US], February 5: President Donald Trump said Tuesday he doesn't think there is a permanent future for Palestinians in Gaza, saying the war-torn enclave is uninhabitable and that its residents have no choice but to leave for good.
Instead of their homeland, Trump suggested Gazans move to a new location provided by one or more nations in the Middle East.
"I mean they're there because they have no alternative. What do they have? It is a big pile of rubble right now," Trump said moments before hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for Oval Office talks.
Trump's suggestion that Gazans leave the strip permanently amounts to a provocative stance that will endear him to Israel's most conservative politicians but is generally a non-starter for Israel's neighbors, who have said they are unwilling to accept new Palestinian refugees from the enclave.
On Tuesday, Trump framed the matter as a humanitarian one, saying it was impossible to believe anyone would want to remain in the war-torn territory.
"Why would they want to return? The place has been hell," Trump said, ignoring a reporter who cried out: "Because it's their home."
Instead of Gaza, he suggested the Palestinians be provided a "good, fresh, beautiful piece of land" to live.
But under repeated questioning, Trump made clear he did not see a world in which Palestinians ever return to Gaza.
"I don't think people should be going back to Gaza. I think Gaza has been very unlucky for them." He said, "Gaza is not a place for people to be living."
Netanyahu, sitting alongside Trump in the Oval Office, smiled as Trump was speaking. The Israeli leader, under conflicting pressures domestically, was in Washington to ascertain exactly where Trump stands on the next phase of a ceasefire in Gaza.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Corporation