Donald Trump's Gaza plan complicates hoped-for Saudi-Israeli deal

President Donald Trump touted the 2020 Abraham Accords that established formal ties between Israel and four Arab countries as one of the biggest foreign policy achievements of his first term.

Now he is pursuing his long-desired goal of getting Saudi Arabia to join the accords -- but he may have just dealt himself a serious setback. Trump's proposal to transfer all 2 million Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip and then rebuild the enclave as the "Riviera of the Middle East" has antagonized some of the very people he needs to seal the deal.

The Gaza idea was swiftly rejected by Arab countries, among them Saudi Arabia. The Gulf powerhouse released a predawn statement right after Trump floated the proposal Tuesday evening.


The kingdom made clear that it is standing by its demand that a Palestinian state first be established before it will normalize relations with Israel. The precondition is "nonnegotiable and not subject to compromises," the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement Wednesday.

The statement directly contradicted Trump, who had just told reporters in Washington that Saudi Arabia had dropped the precondition. One senior Saudi royal said what the U.S. leader was proposing would be tantamount to an "ethnic cleansing" of Gaza.

By proposing to "clean out" Gaza, Trump has earned little but suspicion and anger in Arab countries. Efforts by the U.S. administration to soften the stance have done little to mollify them.

The issue of Palestinian statehood is at the heart of the controversy over Trump's Gaza proposal. Given the Saudi population's broad support for the Palestinians, it would be difficult for the government to accept any agreement that does not address their aspirations for statehood, which complicates the prospects of a deal with Israel.

Before Trump took office for his second term, there was some cause for optimism that Saudi-Israel normalization might move forward. The new American president has for years fostered a good working relationship with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia. But now strains seem to be emerging in that relationship.

Prince Turki al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia's former spy chief and former ambassador to the United States, told CNN on Wednesday that Trump "will get an earful from the leadership here" not only about the lack of wisdom in what he is proposing but also the injustice of "ethnic cleansing."