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Yesterday, Trump said he had spoken to Jordan’s King Abdullah II about moving Palestinians out of Gaza.
“I’d like Egypt to take people. And I’d like Jordan to take people,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, adding that he expected to talk to Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi today.
Smotrich, a strong opponent of stopping the war in Gaza, welcomed the idea.
“The idea of helping them find other places to start a better life is a great idea. After years of glorifying terrorism, they will be able to establish new and good lives in other places,” Smotrich said in a statement.
“Only out-of-the-box thinking with new solutions will bring a solution of peace and security.
“I will, with god’s help, work with the prime minister and the cabinet to ensure there is an operational plan to implement this as soon as possible,” Smotrich said.
Most Gazans are Palestinian refugees or their descendants.
For Palestinians, any attempt to move them from Gaza would evoke dark historical memories of what the Arab world calls the “Nakba” or catastrophe – the mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel’s creation in 1948.
Egypt has previously warned against any “forced displacement” of Palestinians from Gaza into the Sinai desert, which Sisi said could jeopardise the peace treaty Egypt signed with Israel in 1979.
Jordan is already home to around 2.3 million registered Palestinian refugees, according to the United Nations.
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