Donald Trump's plan for Gaza would 'destabilise the Middle East as well as Europe'

The Israeli Defence Minister has ordered the army to prepare for the "voluntary departure" of the inhabitants of the Palestinian enclave.

Transcript

00:00Donald Trump's statements on the Gaza Strip have not fallen on deaf ears.

00:10The Israeli defense minister has already given orders to the army to prepare for the so-called

00:15voluntary departure of the Gazans.

00:19American control of the Palestinian enclave, expulsion of the Gazans into neighboring countries

00:24and transformation of the Palestinian enclave into a Middle East Rivera.

00:28This is the plan of the U.S. president.

00:32Even though the White House has since nuanced Trump's statement, concerns remain.

00:39What Trump is proposing is clearly catastrophic for Gaza, but it would also be destabilizing

00:46for regional countries.

00:48It would be destabilizing for the broader region itself, and it would also have negative

00:55impacts on Europe itself.

00:58So let's, for a second, imagine one million Gazans being moved to Egypt, to a country

01:06with limited economic opportunities, a country of which they themselves, Gazans themselves

01:13have little connection with besides being neighbors.

01:18Do people really think that one million Gazan refugees will stay in Egypt?

01:23No.

01:24Thousands of them, tens of thousands will seek better economic prospects for the field,

01:30including in Europe.

01:32The U.S. president has repeatedly suggested that 1.8 million people from Gaza could be

01:37displaced to the neighboring countries.

01:40This proposal echoes the forced displacement that followed the creation of the state of

01:44Israel in 1948 and 1967, an option repeatedly rejected by Egypt and Jordan.

01:52This would be hugely controversial among the Arab people, who would see this as aiding

02:00and abetting the effective ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their land.

02:07And in the case of Egypt, for instance, would be hugely controversial within the military

02:14and the security establishment, who have long seen this question of Gaza and the displacement

02:20of Gazans as something of a red line.

02:23The European Union has merely reiterated its support for the two-state solution and stated

02:28that Gaza is an integral part of a future Palestinian state.