Gaza Strip joins Canada, Greenland, and Panama Canal as places Trump wants US to own
Gaza, a coastal strip that is just 45 km long and at most 10 km wide, is an integral part of a future Palestinian state according to the two-state solution. Gaza Strip, ruled by Hamas and has also become a shelter for millions of Palestinians displaced by the Israeli occupation.
A little over two weeks into his second term in office, US President Donald Trump has delivered yet another shocker, this time in the highly volatile Middle East, by announcing his intention for an American takeover of the Gaza Strip, one of the only two Palestinian territories. Trump made the claim during a joint press briefing with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which was also his first meeting with a world leader after taking office last month.
CREDIT: AP
US should own Gaza Strip
Trump laid out his plan, which includes the relocation of some 2 million Palestinians to countries including Egypt and Jordan and developing it economically under the ownership of the US.
"We're going to develop it, create thousands and thousands of jobs, and it'll be something that the entire Middle East can be very proud of," Trump said.
Status of Gaza Strip
Gaza, a coastal strip that is just 45 km long and at most 10 km wide, is an integral part of a future Palestinian state according to the two-state solution. Over the decades, the Gaza Strip, which has been ruled by Hamas has also become a shelter for millions of Palestinians displaced by the Israeli occupation.
CREDIT: AP
On Tuesday, Trump called the Gaza Strip a "demolition site" and said it has the potential to be ¡°The Riviera of the Middle East" and a home to "the world's people."
CREDIT: AP
As outlandish as it might sound, this is not the first time Trump, a self-proclaimed US isolationist, has made his expansionist ambitions clear.
Trump want Canada to join US
Days after his presidential election victory, Trump sent shockwaves across the world by claiming that Canada, which shares the longest land boundary with America, should become the 51st state of the USA.
CREDIT: DONALD TRUMP
Buy Greenland, retake Panama Canal
Trump also said he wants to buy Greenland from Denmark for the US, due to the island's strategic importance.
Another claim Trump has made is to retake the Panama Canal from Panama, once again citing national security as the reason.
CREDIT: REUTERS
It should be noted that in all four matters, Trump has refused to rule out military action to get what he wants.
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Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
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