“Why didn’t I think of that?” This is the question that came to mind, almost spontaneously and universally, when President Donald Trump announced his plan to turn the Gaza Strip into a high-class resort, a “Riviera of the Middle East.” Throughout the world, foreign ministers, professors of diplomatic history, students of Mideast politics, all had the same reaction: Why didn’t I think of that?
Gaza needed massive development aid before the war broke out in late 2023, and the subsequent devastation that has been wrought in that narrow strip of land has only increased the need. Who better than a New York real estate developer to tackle such a big development project? How different can reconstructing a nation’s infrastructure be from taming the swamps of Miami for a golf course?
The people of Gaza, all 2 million of them, will need to relocate “permanently” according to Trump’s stated objective. I suppose he thinks that after months of war, a little more displacement won’t be much of a burden. Perhaps he sees a business opportunity and thinks they could visit some of his other properties? Trump National Bedminster couldn’t host all of them, and besides, the U.S. isn’t accepting refugees at the moment. Maybe the Palestinian people could visit Trump International Scotland? How many rooms are there?
The president seems not to recognize that ownership of the land is the underlying issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and removing yet more Palestinians from their land is unlikely to lead to peace. But, hey, isn’t it time we all move past such geo-political realities and go play some golf?
To continue reading this article, click here.
With thanks to the National Catholic Reporter (NCR) and Michael Sean Winters, where this article originally appeared.
