The press conference following Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu has made it very, very clear what Trump plans for the Gaza strip and potentially the West Bank. Make no mistake, what he is suggesting amounts to the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people and the take over of a sovereign territory and follows on from his comments that he expects Jordan, Egypt and other Middle Eastern nations to take in the Palestinian people.

Trump told reporters:

“The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too. We’ll own it. And be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings, level it out, create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area”.

Trump continued:

“I do see along term ownership position and I see it bringing great stability to that part of the Middle East and maybe the entire Middle East. Everybody I have spoken to, this was not a decision made lightly, everybody I have spoken to love the idea of the United States owning that piece of land, developing and creating thousands of jobs with something that will be magnificent, really magnificent that nobody would know and nobody can look because all they see is death and destruction and rubble and demolished buildings falling all over.

A terrible sight.

I have studied this very closely over a lot of months and I have seen it from every different angle and it is a very dangerous place to be. It is only going to get worse. I think it is an idea that has gotten tremendous, I am talking about from the highest level of leadership, gotten tremendous [response] and if the United States can help to bring stability and peace in the Middle East we will do that.”