Trump Plan for Gaza: It’s not a new idea; just different

Recently in a bombshell announcement, American President Donald Trump proposed that the US seize control of Gaza and relocate Palestinians to other countries. With American and international communities help, he said the territory could be turned into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”

Trump’s proposal is not a totally new idea. It’s happened before.

In the November 1949 edition of the United Israel Bulletin, there was a story on former President Herbert Hoover’s plan for Palestine. Hoover, a former US President (1929-33) and a Quaker, was known as “the great humanitarian” for his many relief initiatives that fed war-torn Europe during and after World War I and similar efforts post-World War II.

In December 1945, Hoover submitted his plan to the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry on Palestine. Hoover called it “a process by which both Jews and Arabs would benefit materially,” and could be instrumental in “settling the Palestine question and providing ample Jewish refuge.” He insisted that it offered a “constructive humanitarian solution” and the committee agreed that the proposal merited careful study.

What Hoover proposed was “that Iraq be made the scene of resettlement of the Arabs from Palestine” and this for their immediate relief and long-term benefit.”

Quoting directly from Hoover’s plan: “In ancient times the irrigation of the Tigris and Euphrates valleys supported probably 10 million people. The deterioration and destruction of their irrigation works by the Mongol invasion centuries ago and their neglect for ages are responsible for the shrinkage of the population. My own suggestion is that Iraq be financed to complete this great land development on the condition that it is made the place of resettlement of the Arabs from Palestine. There is room for many more Arabs in Iraq than the total of Arabs in Palestine. The soil is more fertile. They would be among their own race, Arab-speaking and Mohammedan.”

A suggestion to transfer the Arab people of Palestine was also made by the British Labor Party in December 1944, however, no adequate plan was proposed as to where or how they would go.

Palestinians left their homes in 1947-48 for many reasons. Thousands of wealthy Arabs left in anticipation of a war, fleeing to neighboring Arab countries to await its end. Thousands more were encouraged to leave by Arab broadcasts urging them to remove themselves while what Azam Pasha, the Secretary of the Arab league in 1948, called “a momentous massacre” that would “purge the Holy Land of its Jewish inhabitants.”

From census records, best estimates show that no more than 650,000 Palestinian Arabs could have become refugees. Reports by the UN mediator on Palestine arrived at an even lower figure of 472,000.

There were no welcome mats in neighboring Arab countries for the displaced refugees and the UN would become essentially a welfare agency for the Palestinians.

Speaking in Kansas City on December 27, 1948, President Harry Truman referred to the Hoover Plan as a possible settlement of the Arab refugee problem brought about by the war in Palestine. He viewed it as a way of relieving the plight of the refugees while also benefiting Iraq since Palestinians excel at both agriculture and construction.

By 1949, with the creation of half a million Palestinian refugees, Hoover’s plan took on special urgency. He wrote the White House that “they are in a deplorable condition,” and they can be absorbed in Iraq. “It would give permanent solution to the problem of these unfortunate people.” He also said his plan “would strengthen the economy of Iraq.”

Not surprisingly, however, the reaction from the Arab world was vociferous and hostile; the Iraqi press characterized Hoover’s “devilish American plan” as “fiendish” and his statement as “hateful” and urged a boycott of American goods. The Iraqi government sent a telegram announcing that the Arabs would never agree to the creation of a Zionist State.

And so here we are today 75 years later still seeking a solution to a seemingly insurmountable problem…75 years of the history of negotiations whereby Israel has made and offered compromises for a two-state solution. All have been met by consistent Palestinian rejection of all peace initiatives.

This consistent and enduring Palestinian rejection, most recently of Trump’s “Deal of the Century,” in 2020 during his first administration, calls into question any commitment on behalf of the Palestinian leadership to establish a formal peace with the State of Israel. The situation begs the old familiar question of “How’s that working out for you?”

Even if Trump’s plan is a nonstarter, it places the real problem of the Palestinian issue front and center again. Could not new ideas emerge moving us beyond the decades-old, failed ideas of the past?

His plan should be applauded for at least an attempt at a resolution and a starter for serious ideas to emerge, yet all the while the indifferent international community and the fickle United Nations parliament of man stand on the sidelines and criticize.

The Arab states, the European Union, the United Nations, and countless human-rights organizations all claim to care about Gaza. Maybe now is the chance for them to get involved as serious partners. And please, don’t revert to rerunning the old playbook and expecting a different result.