‘If you are silent, you are complicit’: Layla Moran on Trump’s proposal to 'take over' Gaza
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Donald Trump wants the US to take control of Gaza and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East”, saying that Palestinians can resettle in other, neighbouring locations - a move prohibited by international law.
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In brief:
- Trump proposed having the US "take over" Gaza and transform it into a "Riviera of the Middle East" by leveling existing structures and creating new housing and jobs, suggesting Palestinians could resettle in neighboring countries such as Jordan and Egypt.
- The proposal was met with rejection from regional powers (Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia) and criticism from figures including Lib Dem MP Layla Moran, who called it ethnic cleansing and warned it would fuel Hamas resistance.
- The News Agents say the proposal would be the most expensive and open-ended foreign policy intervention from the US since Iraq.
What’s the story?
Everyone can sigh a breath of relief because Donald Trump has found the solution to peace in the Middle East.
His grand idea is for the US to “take over” Gaza and turn it into the "Riviera of the Middle East”.
"The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too. We'll own it", he said during a joint White House press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Netanyahu’s face was an absolute picture, because he wasn't expecting that to come either,” Emily Maitlis says.
Trump said the US will “level” the site, getting rid of destroyed buildings and creating an economy that supplies “unlimited” numbers of jobs and housing.
“We can’t go back, if you go back it’ll end up the same way it has for 100 years,” he said.
Layla Moran: 'If you are silent on Gaza, you are complicit'
Trump went on to suggest that Palestinians living there can resettle in neighbouring countries including Jordan, Egypt and others, adding that if the resettling arrangements are “really nice” they won’t want to return to Gaza.
“They’ll be resettled in areas where they can live a beautiful life and not have to worry about dying every day,” Trump told reporters.
Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia have firmly rejected the idea, but the President is convinced they’ll change their mind.
Forcibly moving a population from their home is strictly prohibited by international law.
When asked who will live in the newly created “Riviera of the Middle East,” Trump answered, “the world’s people.”
He went on; “The potential in the Gaza strip is unbelievable. Representatives from all over the world will live there, Palestinians also.”
The speech “ripped up decades of US policy,” Jon Sopel says, as Trump aims to turn “the two state solution into the US solution”.
Trump: The US will take over the Gaza Strip… we’ll own it pic.twitter.com/W0mEQzIUut
— Acyn (@Acyn) February 5, 2025
What will happen next?
Layla Moran has a personal connection to Gaza. She is half Palestinian and has family who fled Gaza after Israel’s retaliatory attack in the region following the October 7th attacks in Israel.
The Liberal Democrat MP for Oxford West and Abingdon said the most “troubling” part of Trump’s plan was when he said their position on sovereignty in the West Bank is yet to be decided.
“The West Bank and Gaza are occupied Palestinian territories. They belong to Palestine as part of – one day – a two state solution,” she said.
“Is the American President basically giving up on a two state solution?”
“What's the alternative? Trump has presented the alternative, it's ethnic cleansing and it's forcible transfer.”
“I just don't think that's acceptable. It's certainly not acceptable to my friends and family who are there and who say, ‘we will die with the land’. So how are you going to get them off it then?”
Trump’s comments, she adds, will “fuel the fire” for Hamas, making it even less likely that Israeli hostages will be returned to their home.
Now, she says, is the time to act.
“My call to anyone who cares, including our own government, is, if you care about a two state solution, if you believe, for the sake of Israeli and Palestinian security that you need two states, then, if you are silent, you are complicit.
“Now is the time to do something. Not just say you're going to do something.”
Trump, she says, is a “bully” who likes the “strong men” of the world - even if they disagree with him. Starmer she believes, needs to speak up, condemning Trump’s words, recognising the State of Palestine as intent and calling for a UN Security Council meeting today.
“I don't think Trump’s going to like us very much if we're the cowering kid in the back of the class. Actually, we need to stand up tall.”
Moran herself clearly lays out her hopes for the future of Gaza; “A democratically elected Palestinian government in which extremism plays no part, which is not armed, but where Palestinians can determine their own destiny and aren't at the behest of an Israeli government that sees them as a security threat.
“This is an achievable thing.”
What's The News Agents' take?
Although known for bringing his streams of consciousness to the stage, Trump’s speech wasn’t a “spur of the moment improvisation,” Emily believes.
However, this doesn’t mean he’s really going to boots on the ground in Gaza, she adds.
“I think what he's doing is signalling to Netanyahu that he's on side.”
But Netanyahu, standing side by side with the US president, looked “shocked” at the announcement, Lewis Goodall says.
“He didn't look like a man who was really pleased with what he was hearing. He looked as shocked as many of the reporters in the room”
“Then he praised Trump for his willingness to think outside of the box.”
Trump is “not even in the same solar system as the box,” Lewis adds.
The threat is like a “fever dream” for the far-right radical elements of Netanyahu's government, Lewis says, while Emily adds that Hamas will be “thrilled” by the threat from Trump, using it to argue legitimacy.
While this wasn’t a spur of the moment proposal, Jon thinks it’s clearly not been thought through - with no one from Trump’s team talking to the Egyptians, Jordanians or Saudi Arabians who have all rejected it.
The proposal then, is “dead on arrival,” he says.
The countries Trump suggested Palestinians should resettle in “weren't taking them when they were getting bombed,” Lewis adds - so they’re not going to start now.
One senior diplomat suggested to Emily that Trump may know that these countries won’t accept Palestinians, and that the US will never take control of Gaza, but Trump thinks it’s worth making the threat anyway to make them look for alternative solutions.
“If Trump is serious, it would be the most expensive and open-ended foreign policy intervention from the US, certainly since Iraq, maybe since Vietnam,” Lewis says.
You would be talking about tens of thousands, if not more, of American troops on the ground operating with no international authority or legitimacy whatsoever, because it would clearly be illegal. It clearly wouldn't be sanctioned by the United Nations.”
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