Gazans Need the Freedom to Leave

(Newsweek | February 7, 2025) 

As the world reels from President Donald Trump‘s announcement that the United States will “take over” Gaza, resettling its residents in some undetermined country, it’s still unclear whether he’s being serious or setting the stage for negotiations.

Arab nations, to no surprise, have immediately rejected the idea.

Jordan and Egypt joined Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in writing to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, opposing plans to relocate Gazans. Other U.S. allies, including France, the United Kingdom, Turkey, and Germany also came out against the initiative.

But whether Trump is bluffing or serious, he’s making some good points. Most importantly, Palestinians who want to leave the demolished Gaza Strip should have the right to do so. Hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians have been trapped in a war zone where they’re now faced with trying to live in bombed out buildings or buildings set to explode. Giving them another choice would not only be humane but may prevent future rounds of conflict.

Much of the world has gotten used to blaming Israel for Gazans’ predicament. Even before the horrific Hamas slaughter of more than 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023, progressive groups called the strip an outdoor prison. But who, really, were the wardens? Hamas has brutalized Gazans for years, cynically using civilians as shields by building operating bases in hospitals and elementary schools. stealing aid to build tunnels and buy weapons rather than create jobs and develop the coastal enclave into anything near what Trump—facetiously or not—has envisioned as a new French Riviera. At last count, before Oct. 7, more than 45% of Gazans were unemployed, a situation that clearly has worsened after 15 months of outright war.

Throughout all this time, Arab nations had choices. They could have helped ensure the aid they gave was not diverted from the two million people who need it; they could have taken in refugees. They did neither, and now they complain that doing so would “destabilize” the region. That’s far from the truth.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is full of double standards not applied to any other conflict in the world.

Over the past 15 years, conflicts in Syria and Ukraine alone created around 14 million refugees living mainly in Europe Millions more came from Afghanistan and Sudan. Consider also that Syria, Ukraine, Sudan, and Afghanistan are large countries where some areas are much more peaceful than others.

Gaza on the other hand is a tiny strip and one of the most densely populated places in the world. The population density of Gaza roughly equals that of London.

Yet while millions of Syrians, Ukrainians, Sudanese, and Afghans were accepted by the international community and resettled, Gazans have been expected to build new lives amid the rubble.

Over the past 15 months, the world has watched them make their way on foot and in ragtag caravans from north to south, east to west and back as different parts of the strip became active war zones. As far back as December 2023, eight in 10 Gazans were homeless, according to the United Nations.

Should Gazans have the choice to leave, it is hard to imagine that many would choose to stay. They’d be even more likely to leave if offered incentives or the possibility of work and a normal life.

But Hamas stands in their way.

It’s in the interests of Hamas and other radical proponents of the Palestinian cause to keep Gazans trapped. For them, an outpouring of refugees would mean Israel won. Arab countries simply don’t want to deal with them.

Since 1948, Palestinians have acknowledged only two defeats from Israel—the War of Independence in 1948 and the Six Day War in 1967. Why? Because they lost land and large numbers of the people fled. Palestinian extremists do not care about loss of life and infrastructure. Populations regenerate and Qatar can buy them new buildings.

Should Gazans be resettled in an Arab world that has shown no interest in taking them in, it is vital that they be properly assimilated. Many argue that Palestinians threaten the stability of wherever they settle. Indeed, in Jordan, Palestinians assassinated a king and attempted to overthrow the government. In Lebanon, armed Palestinian factions played a large part in the civil war, from which Beirut still hasn’t recovered. In Egypt, a radical Palestinian group assassinated a minister. Following Trump’s statement, a Palestinian extremist on Qatari-state media Al Jazeera, threatened that Palestinians would become “ticking timebombs” wherever they settled.

However, Palestinians in these countries were never given any prospects. Often, they were permanently settled in refugee camps. Not only did countries not give them a path to citizenship, they classified them as “foreigners.” They faced discriminatory laws that banned them from owning property or taking certain jobs. They are often targeted by security services. If Arab countries do not want Palestinians to constitute a security threat, then they should not reject them from society.

Trump’s next move is unclear. Many have suggested that planned resettlement is a negotiation tactic. As National Security Advisor Mike Waltz put it, Trump’s plan will force the region to “come up with their own solutions.”

But if resettlement is done right, it would give many Gazans a chance at a new beginning. No more would these civilians be stuck between brutal terrorist rule and Israeli airstrikes.

Joseph Epstein is the director for research at the Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET), a senior fellow at the Yorktown Institute, and a research fellow at the Begin Sadat Center for Strategic Studies.

The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.