WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - National Security Matters: Trump Gaza

Episode Date: March 11, 2025

This week, Malia Thibado discusses Trump’s proposition for American control of the Gaza Strip.  She dives into the history of the land and the challenges of the plan and regional opposition to it.  

Hello and welcome to National Security Matters, the show where we discuss foreign policy, national security, the defense industry, and the organizations and individuals therein. I'm your host, Malia Tibido. Let's talk about Trump's proposal to take over the Gaza Strip. As a neat jerk reaction, I thought this was one of the dumbest ideas I've ever heard. It has nothing to do with American interests, and it would actively misallocate American government resources away from domestic issues toward the Middle East. But let's take a deep breath and an objective standpoint and see what's really going on. The most important takeaway is in some 80 odd years of Israel being a nation state in the Middle East, there has never been a successful lasting resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The UN tried in November 1947, which culminated in the first Arab-Israeli war. Israel took control over the Gaza Strip twice in 1956 and 1967 in retaliation for a war. Egyptian aggression and blocking maritime trade ports. In 1994, the Oslo Accords set in motion a six-year-long process of Israeli withdrawal that somehow survived the assassination of the Israeli Prime Minister and two successive elections. However, that initiative failed in 2000. Then in 2005, Hamas won election and took control of the Palestinian government in Gaza. Israel shut down the border, as this was now a terrorist.

controlled territory. And now we're in the middle of the Israel-Khamas war, with calls for a two-state solution fading out in favor of pro-Palestinian from the river to the sea chance and is really resolved to completely wipe out Hamas. Enter Donald Trump. He wants to create a lasting peace in the Middle East by taking, as far as I can tell, administrative responsibility for Gaza and redeveloping it with better infrastructure and opportunities for those who end up living there after the Reconstruction. In a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on February 4th, Trump announced that, quote, the U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip. We will own it. Trump did claim, quote, the only reason the people of Gaza want to go back is because

they have no alternative. I disagree. The reason the Gazans want to go back to Gaza is that it is their home and they feel patriotism in the same way that Americans feel patriotism towards their country or even towards their own city. Caroline Levit, the White House Press Secretary, clarified that the U.S. has no plans to send troops to the Middle East or for American tax dollars to go to the initiative, but

that the project would be funded by American allies in the region. This means, for Trump's plan to work, surrounding Arab countries would have to be willing to take Palestinian minorities into their country, and historically, that has not ended well. The Jordanian Civil War was fought

between Jordanians and the Palestinian minority who attempted a coup against the king before they were expelled. If you remember, Egypt and Jordan do not want Ghazan refugees even now. According to the Associated Press, Egyptian President L. Sisi explicitly expressed concern of militant organizations populating the Sinai Peninsula and attacking Israel, which would endanger the Egyptian-Israeli 40 years of peace. These reasons, not to mention the large Arab support for the Palestinian movement, means that many countries have been disincentified from taking on these economically unwise and

unpopular actions. In an effort to appease the U.S. King Abdullah II of Jordan did say he would take in 2006 Palestinian children. Steve Whitkoff, leader of Trump's envoy to the Middle East, did acknowledge the possible issues with the plan, namely radicalization of this displaced population and economic strain on the host country. Additionally, since the project would take an estimated 15 to 25 years, it's hard to tell if and when Gozans would be able to return to the strip. We'll have to wait for a more detailed plan, as the Trump administration has for now been rather vague on how the plans would play out, and Arab nations have publicly denounced the feasibility of the plan, citing the Western imperialism of removing the Ghazan people

from their homes. The U.S. does have many diplomatic tools at its disposal when negotiating with countries like Egypt and Jordan, mainly pulling its trade agreements. and the much-needed for an aid, which it supplies to Jordan. Regardless, Trump remains publicly optimistic about the Gaza plan, even making a Trump-Gaza-A-I-generated post on Instagram, which is simultaneously hilarious and quite unprofessional. Thank you for tuning into this week's episode of the National Security Matters. Next week we'll cover the fallout of the White House meeting between Trump and Zelensky

on WRFH Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.