Oval Office Archives - CrossFireArarbia

Trump: ‘Nobody is Expelling Any Palestinians,’ From Gaza

CrossFireArabia
March 13, 2025

U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to reverse his controversial plan to forcibly expel Palestinians from Gaza, following widespread rejection, stating, “nobody is expelling any Palestinians” from the war-torn enclave.

During an Oval Office meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin on Wednesday, a reporter asked about Trumps plans to expel Palestinians from Gaza and whether he had discussed the matter with the Irish leader. Trump responded, “Nobody is expelling any Palestinians,” according to the Quds News Network.

REPORTER: What about the president's plan to expel Palestinians out of Gaza?

TRUMP: Nobody is expelling any Palestinians. Who are you with?

REPORTER: I'm with Voice of America, sir.

TRUMP: Oh, no wonder. pic.twitter.com/SfosOKDnv6
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 12, 2025

Trump had previously proposed permanently and forcibly displacing Palestinians from Gaza and transforming the area into what he called the “Riviera of the Middle East.” His plan envisioned a developed, Palestinian-free zone under US control and ownership, where “the world’s people” could reside.

He also suggested that Jordan and Egypt take in displaced Palestinians, a proposal that both countries firmly rejected. Legal experts, along with Palestinians, condemned the plan, calling it “ethnic cleansing.”

U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to reverse his controversial plan to forcibly expel Palestinians from Gaza, following widespread rejection, stating, “nobody is expelling any Palestinians” from the war-torn enclave.https://t.co/hxEHR73Mls
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) March 12, 2025

Hamas has welcomed Trump’s Wednesday remarks. Hazem Qassem, spokesperson for Hamas, said, “If President Trump’s statements represent a reversal of the plan of displacing the people of Gaza, they are welcomed. We call for this stance to be followed by holding the occupation accountable for implementing all ceasefire agreements,” urging Trump not to “align with the extremist right-wing Zionist agenda.”

Meanwhile Jordan, Thursday welcomed President Trump’s remarks made on Wednesday, which affirmed that the residents of Gaza would not be required to leave the war-torn Strip, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.

Sufyan Qudah, the ministry’s spokesperson, reiterated Jordan’s support for efforts aimed at achieving a peace that is acceptable to all parties, highlighting that both Jordan and the United States are partners in these efforts according to The Jordan Times.

Qudah also underscored the importance of securing a just and lasting peace, one that leads to the establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. He reaffirmed that the two-state solution remains the only viable pathway to ensuring long-term security, stability, and peace in the region.

Trump said on Wednesday that “nobody is expelling any Palestinians from Gaza,” in response to a question during a meeting in the White House with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin.

Opinion

Mad President and Street Brawl

CrossFireArabia
March 1, 2025

By Dr Khairi Janbek

People from my generation remember a pop group which used to sing a song called the lunatics have taken over the asylum. Now, they were not themselves lunatics but merely performing for their audience and their fans, in the same manner. Neither Trump nor his band wagon are necessarily a bunch of thugs, but they are merely performing for their fans and audience.

However one cannot find any reason for world leaders to go to the Oval Office in order to provide US president Donald Trump with the material to entertain his fans and audience.

He ambushed King Abdullah of Jordan with the entry of journalists when that was not supposed to happen in order to market his absurd Gaza plan, president Emmanuel Macron of France provided him with the opportunity of posturing as an antagonist to the EU, prime minister Keir Starmer provided him with the opportunity of showing what Britain was groveling for – a free trade agreement and a role of being a bridge between the US and EU.

Ironically however, the worst of the Trump performance was left for Volodymr Zelensky, though his trip was the only one that made sense.

Zelensky for all intents and purposes, went to sign an agreement to hand the resources of Ukraine to America, but suddenly the situation deteriorated to almost a street brawl. Why? The whole thing was agreed upon by both sides from the start.

Of course, Zelensky expected a protection commitment from the USA in exchange for the mineral resources, but in fairness, without an explicit US commitment protection would have been implicitly there since supposedly, American companies and workers would be working in Ukraine, so what has actually happened to derail the whole agreement?

Of course, any such agreement with potential implicit US protection of Ukraine, is totally against Russian interests, especially according to some speculation, Putin has the intention to occupy the whole of Ukraine, therefore the talk in the corridors, is that Putin has offered Trump the exploitation of Ukrainian resources in the occupied territories of Russia, which in effect sabotaged the minerals agreement between US and Ukraine, and rescued Trump from having to give security guarantees; albeit implicit to Ukraine.

Now, at the peril of repeating the usual cliche of the EU facing a crossroad on its path, something which had happened frequently, this time it’s in fact different. The truth is that the US has been distancing itself from the EU at least from the days of president Obama, but the difference now is that the EU is being attacked by both the US and Russia, and finds itself as the large leviathan with clay feet unable to move.

The dilemma of differences within the EU are prominent, with full support for Ukraine, with some having lukewarm support, while some with no support at all, moreover the NATO future is hanging in the balance, to keep or not to keep that is the question, but what is the alternative? A European army which is yet to crystallize as an idea, or just drop all the effort?

What it boils down to now, is the idea of leadership of the “Free World”, certainly this notion has always been a nebulous idea, still, the US stood by it and projected its image accordingly, but now, it seems the US is not interested in world affairs except in what it can exploit and use and abuse for its own interests, which means, who will be the new leader of the Free World?

In fact, is there a need for a leader of the free world assuming that there is such a world? If the EU has any such pretensions, then big changes are necessary within its membership as it must be realized the road is very long for such an objective. But in the mean time, we have to settle for the theory of the mad president, ie. Trump would do anything, and peace by force with an oxymoron.

Dr Janbek is a Jordanian writer based in Paris.

News

Hamas Calls Trump ‘Displacement Statement’ as ‘Absurd, Meaningless’

CrossFireArabia
February 1, 2025

The Palestinian Hamas, Saturday, slammed the repeated US statements on displacing Palestinians from Gaza as “absurd and meaningless.”

In a statement, Sami Abu Zuhri, a senior Hamas leader, said the “plans to displace Palestinians from Gaza are absurd and meaningless,” stressing: “What the Israeli occupation failed to achieve by force, will not be accomplished through political maneuvers.”

“The repeated US announcements on displacing Palestinians from the Gaza Strip under the pretext of its reconstruction reflect a persistent complicity in the crime,” Abu Zuhri said according to Anadolu.

The Hamas leader considered the US administration’s insistence on the displacement plans for Gaza’s Palestinians as “a recipe for further chaos and tension in the region.”

On Friday, US President Donald Trump said he is “confident” Egypt and Jordan would take Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, stressing and affirming previous statements on the issue.

“I heard somebody said they’re not going to, but I think they will. I feel confident they will,” Trump said from the Oval Office.

Trump doubled down Thursday on his controversial proposal to relocate Palestinians from Gaza, insisting that Egypt and Jordan would comply, despite their repeated rejections.

“They will do it. They will do it. They’re going to do it, okay? We do a lot for them, and they’re going to do it,” Trump told reporters when asked if he would consider measures to pressure Cairo and Amman to accept his plan.

Trump suggested over the weekend to “clean out” Gaza and resettle Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan, describing the enclave as a “demolition site” after Israel’s genocidal war.

The two countries, however, vehemently rejected any call for the displacement or relocation of Palestinians from their land.

Trump’s proposal came after a ceasefire agreement took effect in Gaza on Jan. 19, suspending the Israeli war, that has killed more than 47,400 Palestinians, most of them women and children, since Oct. 7, 2023, according to Gaza’s health authorities.

Trump’s proposal has received widespread condemnation, with critics calling it “ethnic cleansing” and a “war crime.” Many countries in the Muslim and Arab world as well as European nations such as France have firmly rejected the idea.

News

Trump: Gaza is a ‘Huge Demolition Site’ That Can be ‘Rebuilt’

CrossFireArabia
January 21, 2025

US President Donald Trump said he is not confident that the ceasefire agreement on Gaza would continue. He stressed the Strip was subjected to massive destruction but did not rule out taking part in the reconstruction of the 364-kilometer-enclave.

Trump spoke to reporters on Monday from the Oval Office while signing executive orders on the first day of his second term, and said in response to a question about the possibility of continuing the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, “I’m not confident. This is not our war, this is their war.”

Speaking to reporters, Monday, from the Oval Office while signing executive orders on the first day of his second term as US president, Trump said in response to a question about the possibility of continuing the Gaza ceasefire: “I’m not confident. This is not our war, this is their war.”

While claiming that Hamas was “weakened” after the Israeli war on the Strip for 15 months, he added: “As to the future regarding the rule of Gaza, that depends on several things, and I still cannot imagine that. Most of those who ruled there were killed, and there are those who rule in a brutal way.”

Trump pointed out Gaza was subjected to massive destruction. He described it as a “huge demolition site” but must be rebuilt in a different way, indicating his administration may contribute to the reconstruction of the Strip.

https://twitter.com/BeckettUnite/status/1881602162784104472

“There are some beautiful things you can do there. The coast is amazing, the weather and the location are great. There are some beautiful things you can do in Gaza. There are some beautiful things you can do in Gaza,” he said.

In his inauguration speech, Trump said that he wants to be a peacemaker: “My proudest legacy is to be a peacemaker and a unifier. That’s what I want to be and that’s what I want to do. And I’m so happy that the day before I took office for a second term, the hostages in the Middle East are coming home.”

The Gaza ceasefire agreement came into effect at 8:30 am last Sunday, ending 471 days of genocidal war waged by the Israeli occupation army on the Strip, which left more than 158,000 Palestinian martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 11,000 missing, amid massive destruction and famine that killed dozens of children and elderly people, in one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world.

Trump says he’s not confident Gaza’s ceasefire will last: it’s not our war, he says citing its beautiful location — in a ‘real estate’ theft sort of way pic.twitter.com/bNuECGoY03
— Sarah Wilkinson (@swilkinsonbc) January 21, 2025

The Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman, announced last Wednesday evening the success of the efforts of the mediators (Doha, Cairo and Washington) in reaching a ceasefire agreement in Gaza.

The agreement consists of three stages, each lasting 42 days, and includes a cessation of military operations, the withdrawal of the occupation army from populated areas in Gaza, the opening of the Rafah crossing and enhancing the entry of aid through it, and the exchange of prisoners according to Quds Press.