#  'This is Ethnic Cleansing': Trump's Idea for Jordan and Egypt to Take Gazans Triggers Outrage

     Details    Eloise Goldsmith   ![logo](https://www.citywatchla.com//templates/ja_teline_v/images/logo.png)         January 27 2025      [  ![](https://www.citywatchla.com/images/stories/Jan-2025/008n.jpg#joomlaImage://local-images/stories/Jan-2025/008n.jpg?width=1650&height=932)    ](https://www.citywatchla.com/world-watch/30273-this-is-ethnic-cleansing-trumps-idea-for-jordan-and-egypt-to-take-gazans-triggers-outrage)

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 ETHNIC CLEANSING - Speaking to reporters Saturday, U.S. President [Donald Trump](https://www.commondreams.org/tag/donald-trump) said he would like to see most of the population of war-torn [Gaza](https://www.commondreams.org/tag/gaza) be relocated to Jordan and Egypt, a plan that a number of observers said was tantamount to ethnic cleansing. Trump made the remarks the same day that he lifted a Biden-era [hold](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/white-house-makes-2000-pound-bombs-available-israel-undoing-bidens-pause-2025-01-25/) on the supply of 2,000-pound bombs to [Israel](https://www.commondreams.org/tag/israel).

"I'd like Egypt to take people. And I'd like Jordan to take people," Trump [said](https://www.ft.com/content/8f532d01-a8cc-49e3-b1db-31e3da8d3771), according to the Financial Times. "You're talking about a million and half people, and we just clean out that whole thing." Gaza's [population](https://www.britannica.com/place/Gaza-Strip) was 2.2 million in 2023.

"'Clean out' is barely even a euphemism. This is ethnic cleansing, call it what it is," wrote Assal Rad, the author of a book on modern Iran, on X, [reacting](https://x.com/AssalRad/status/1883429524446360060) to an Associated Press article about Trump's comments.

The independent reporter Talia Jane [wrote](https://x.com/taliaotg/status/1883381176334983422): "What's it called when you clean out an ethnic group from a region."

"He's just openly endorsing/encouraging ethnic cleansing," [wrote](https://bsky.app/profile/mehdirhasan.bsky.social/post/3lgmkfd2bzk2b) the journalist Mehdi Hasan on Saturday. Others chimed in with [similar remarks](https://bsky.app/profile/sethabramson.bsky.social/post/3lgnmfcs77s26).

Trump's comments were made [nearly a week](https://www.commondreams.org/news/israel-hamas-ceasefire) after a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas went into effect, halting 15 months of war that was triggered by a Hamas deadly attack on Israel in October, 2023 and which left tens of thousands of Palestinians dead, according to local health officials.

Homes, shelter, and infrastructure has also been largely [decimated](https://www.commondreams.org/news/gazans-return-homes-destroyed) in the Gaza Strip by Israel's military campaign there. Trump said that Gaza is "literally a demolition site right now. Almost everything's demolished and people are dying there, so I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing in a different location where I think they could maybe live in peace for a change," [per](https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/25/politics/trump-gaza-strip-jordan-egypt/index.html)CNN.

"What the occupation has failed to achieve through its criminal bombardment and genocide in Gaza will not be implemented through political pressures," [said](https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/25/politics/trump-gaza-strip-jordan-egypt/index.html) independent Palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouti, according to CNN. "The conspiracy of ethnic cleansing will not succeed in Gaza or the West Bank."

Trump also [told](https://www.ft.com/content/8f532d01-a8cc-49e3-b1db-31e3da8d3771) reporters that he had already discussed the idea to relocate Gazans with King Abdullah of Jordan on Saturday. He said he planned to bring up the plan during a Sunday phone call with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah A-Sisi.

Trump's proposal would be a departure from the United States' official [position](https://www.state.gov/u-s-relations-with-palestinian-territories#:~:text=U.S.%2DPALESTINIAN%20RELATIONS&text=The%20U.S.%20Government%20remains%20committed,of%20freedom%2C%20security%20and%20prosperity.) of forging a negotiated "two state solution" for Israel and [Palestine](https://www.commondreams.org/tag/palestine), although [some say](https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/what-us-policy-israeli-palestinian-conflict) that the United States' policies towards the region, [including](https://quincyinst.org/research/mind-the-gap-u-s-preferences-and-israels-war-conduct/#executive-summary) the nearly unqualified support for Israel during its campaign in Gaza, have undercut that goal.

Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich endorsed Trump's remarks, [according](https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/25/politics/trump-gaza-strip-jordan-egypt/index.html) to CNN, saying "the idea of helping \[Gazans\] find other places to start new, better lives is a great idea."

*(Eloise Goldsmith is a staff writer for Common Dreams where this article was first published.)*

  - [  Previous Article **Official Gaza Death Toll Soars to Nearly 62,000 as Thousands of Missing Now Presumed Dead** ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=30313:official-gaza-death-toll-soars-to-nearly-62-000-as-thousands-of-missing-now-presumed-dead&catid=332)
- [  Next Article **Can Hamas Redeem Itself?** ](https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=30264:can-hamas-redeem-itself&catid=332)
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