I’m sure many of us will be watching the television in absolute horror this morning. It is absolutely nauseating to watch Donald Trump talk about the ethnic cleansing of a people as if it is a normal thing to do. We should not tolerate it and we need to all it out for what it is.
Three Lib Dem MPs have spoken out this morning.
Lib Dem Foreign Affairs spokesperson Calum Miller has emphatically condemned Trump’s plan, calling it “bizarre” and ‘dangerous”.
He said:
Donald Trump’s proposal for Gaza is bizarre but also dangerous. It shows casual disregard for the rights and aspirations of Palestinians and threatens the basis for peace at this fragile moment.
The UK cannot be silent – we must make clear that this proposal is damaging, wrong and would amount to a severe breach of international law.
Now is the moment for the UK to immediately recognise Palestine as a state, to make clear our commitment to a two-state solution based on 1967 borders.
Ed Davey said:
When we desperately need a fragile truce to hold, Trump’s ramblings on Gaza risk having the effect of a bull in a china shop.
The UK needs to make clear that these proposals must be rejected, and that we support international law and a two state solution based on 1967 borders.
Layla Moran said:
Trump has clearly not spoken to a single Palestinian about this plan. Gaza is our land. Palestine is our home. Peace cannot come at the cost of our country.
I urge the UK and the whole international community to resist him.
Recognise Palestine now, before it’s too late.
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
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20 Comments
‘Bizarre’? I would prefer ‘crazy’ or ‘cynical’ if Trump intends to turn Gaza into a new riviera. You really COULD NOT make it up. Light the blue touch paper and retire!
It’s all distraction techniques while Trump signs away the future of US citizens away to the whims and ambitions of the tech-bros in the name of profit, power and prestige.
However, we really need to rethink the transatlantic alliance.
After “9/11” the US let its “leader of the free world” mask slip, the story of the 21st century so far has been the prentence of International Law and Institutions while US hegemony inexorably advanced. Then Russia took notice and was compled to join in the grab for power and influence.
China is well and truly awake to the threat of encirclement by the US hence its ambitions in the South China Sea, Asia Pacific, Silk Road and Africa.
All the while the UK preachers rights and democracy while acting like Washington’s mini-me. Truly embrassing.
Brexit was orchestrated by the political and economic cousins of MAGA (it is no surprise the Trump 1.0 and Brexit happened in the same year). This is not some hidden factor that you need to dig for, Farage, Reece-Mogg, Cummings, and their sponsors are all pretty open about their intentions.
The story of the 21st so far is the story of the failure of the EU to get it’s self together to from a full-spectrum power block. The UK has been the US aligned poison in the mix.
It is a shame that we don’t assert our own destiny and help make the EU wider Europe and the commonwealth into a 21st non-aligned movement with a mutual defence pact.
Every time I try to ween myself off Trump and the threat to democracy, he comes back to haunt me! As for our government’s attempt not to rile him, isn’t it about time we saw the ‘Special Relationship’ we have with the USA for what it really is and stop all this exceptionalist nonsense. Churchill should have realised how things were back at Yalta. Eden certainly should have after the Suez débâcle. It was more by luck that the US turned a blind eye the last time we tried to go it alone in the Falklands War. (Thank goodness Harold Wilson said ‘No’ to LBJ during the Vietnam War!)
We have much to thank the US for. They saved our bacon in two world wars and probably because of enlightened self interest provided most of the funds to rebuild Western Europe after WW2. We would hope that its involvement continues. However, for geopolitical and economic reasons, our first allegiance should be to our fellow Europeans, with all their faults and federalist aspirations (which many appear now to be putting on the back burner). Splendid isolation might have worked when Britannia DID rule the waves but knowing who your friends are in this increasingly dangerous world is more important.
I agree with Matthew and would add that Trumps Executive Orders that have been drowned out by this Gaza episode leads to a dictatorship.
It is a truly extraordinary statement. It seems as if it won’t be long before the the International Criminal Court (ICC) is compelled to issue arrest warrants for Donald Trump on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, joining Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the 21st century’s rogues gallery.
The policy being advocated is akin to the 19th century corralling of native American tribes in reservations. You only have to look at the plight of these native Americans today, more than a century on, to see the future for Palestinian refugees in the region.
While the US congress remains under the control of Trump the rest of the world has to put up with these outrages. The hope is that the US courts can mitigate the worst excessess of the Trump administration on the domestic front and Amercan voters will return the house of representatives and/or senate to responsible leadership in the mid-term elections in 2026. In foreign policy, the United Nations has to come together to insist on compliance with all phases of the negogiated peace treaty including the phase three reconstruction of Gaza What we know about the Gaza ceasefire deal
While an actual Genocide has been underway in Gaza, Elon Musk continues to spread the baseless conspiracy theory that a “genocide” is being carried out against White farmers in South Africa and calling for relaxation of US immigration rules for White South Africans to the USA Elon Musk says ‘YES’ to US welcoming white SA migrants. South Aficans (black or white) should be welcomed to emigrate to the West if they wish to, but on the same basis as other migrants from around the world.
Trumps suggestion is absurd. Why not find out what the Palestinians want, instead of engaging in ethnic cleansing. I agree with the UK recognising the Palestinian state, and helping to bring in the long awaited 2-state solution that was agreed at Oslo. in 1993
Some excellent points above.
How I miss the late 80s & 90s, fall of the Berlin wall, end of Apartheid, 2-state solution in 1993 at Olso, the Downing Street Declaration leading to a peace in North Ireland.
The early inter-web. The spread of knowledge, educational opportunities, and improving healthcare. A growing middle class, more mixing of ideas and cultures.
Yes, Oslo was thwarted, chaos in the former Soviet Union handing power to the Oligarchs, the terrible events in the Balkans, Rwanda, increasing surveillance/CCTV and unchecked financial and corporate power in the west.
There was reason to be optimistic in 1997, by 2001 the negative powers of history began to reassert themselves, the poisonous seeds of unresolved injustices had been growing out of sight.
How did it all go so wrong?
Did faded memories of WWI and WWII allow Western politics to become corrupted with thoughts of power, exploitation and control?
Did winning the Cold War cause the USA to lose any remaining moral compass?
Why did the UK follow like a puppet?
How come the EU wasn’t able to assert itself as a beacon of strong independent Liberal Democracy?
It seems Trump’s territorial ambitions know no bounds…
First Trump came for the EU
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a member of the EU
Then he came for the Greenlanders
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Greenlander
Then he came for the Canadians
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Canadian
Then he came for the Palestinians
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Palestinian
Then he came for the UK
And there was no one left
To speak out for the UK…
The Nazis debated for many years what might be the best way to deal with people they did not like. They discussed punitive taxation. They discussed encouraging emigration. They talked about finding some distant land which might agree to welcome a large number of incomers.
It slowly dawned on them that none of these relatively humane solutions would actually be viable.
Trump is now starting out along a similar trajectory.
However crazy Trump’s solution may be, you can’t escape the fact that keeping two million people in a patch of desert the size of Bradford is not a viable solution either. That sort of density only works in the economic capital of a large hinterland. Even with genuine independence and peace, Gaza is not viable and neither of those things will come without economic hope.
Firstly, let me say that I am a cynical person. President Trump has already said that he intends to make as much profit out of his presidency as he can. I honestly do not think that when he looks at Gaza he sees the displaced people and the misery; I think he sees a real-estate opportunity and sees lots of Trump hotels along the coast making lots of money. As I said, I am a cynic.
If he’s serious (hah!) he should offer Gazans US citizenship. Why should Egypt & Jordan accept a lot of immigration that the USA would not?
Trump knows it will not happen…What he has done is scupper any chance of Israel needing to concede a ‘two state solution to 1967 borders’…
The smirk on Netanyahu’s face, when Trump made the announcement public, says it all.
I share David Goble’s cynicism
Peter Davies makes the point that the Gaza strip may not be viable as a home to 2.3 million people. The Trump statement does raise the issue of evacuation to clear unexploded ordnance, demolish damaged buildings, clear debris and begin rebuilding i.e. at least a decade or more of intensive construction work.
If part of the population of Gaza must be relocated to accomplish this work then the obvious area to relocate to would be the occupied Palestinian territories.
If we are going down the road of radical solutions, then an enlightended Israeli government supported by a rational US administration would seek to relocate any of the 750,000 Israeli settlers in the West bank and East Jerusalem that chose not to remain under Palestinian Authority jurisdiction in a newly created Palestinian state back to Israel proper.
The vacated settlements and urban housing in East Jerusalem would be made available to accoommodate displaced residents of Gaza together with the construction of new towns in the Jordan valley that have sufficient water resources to support the population.
The withdrawl of Israeli settlers from the West bank would allow for the creation of a contiguous Palestinian state with a land corridor linking Gaza and the West bank and give Israel and its citizens what it wants – a Jewish majority state with selled international borders and Arab neighbours committed to the maintaining peace in the region.
“If we are going down the road of radical solutions, then an enlightended Israeli government supported by a rational US administration would seek to relocate any of the 750,000 Israeli settlers in the West bank and East Jerusalem that chose not to remain under Palestinian Authority jurisdiction in a newly created Palestinian state back to Israel proper.”
I’m not sure the word ‘enlightened’ could be used to describe an Israeli government. Nor that any Israeli settlers in the West Bank could be persuaded to relocate to any territory owned by Israel under international law.
The call to forcibly remove Palestinians from Gaza is an outright invitation to commit a war crime. Ethnic cleansing is a crime against humanity under international law, yet Israeli leaders have embraced this idea with alarming zeal. The fact that such a proposal must even be seriously addressed reflects a horrifying level of moral decline. No justification – political or otherwise – can ever legitimize ethnic cleansing.
In contrast to the messianic fantasy of expelling Palestinians, we offer an alternative that serves the true interests of both peoples: “A Land for All – Two States, One Homeland”, a joint Israeli-Palestinian movement, is working towards a just, equal, and achievable future. Amid destruction and hatred, we know that only a future rooted in justice, equality, and cooperation can ensure lasting safety for all who live between the Jordan River and the Sea. This land is home to two peoples, and neither is going anywhere.
We will not surrender public discourse about our future to the fantasies of real estate developers.
Next week we will be presenting the principles of A Land For All to participants attending the Munich Security Conference, the world’s leading forum for debating international security policy. When the reckless declarations and inflammatory rhetoric fade, we – Israelis and Palestinians – will still be here, sharing our homeland.
The only path to a secure future and a better life for our children is through mutual recognition, self determination, and the fulfillment of both peoples’ collective rights.
“Bizarre” and “dangerous”. Classic British Understatement!
Trump’s proposals are a fantasy. Egypt will not voluntarily offer Gazans refuge, and Gazans will not voluntarily leave Gaza. However, coercion could work. Simply let Israel bomb and starve the Gazans, and then tell Egypt that if they do not open their borders, millions of Gazans will die.
Unfortunately, the more humane proposals suggested by Joseph Bourke and John Waller are almost equally fantastical. Gaza will be horrendously hard to rebuild, especially if its population do not leave. Gazans will not trust a relocation plan, even to the West Bank. Sadly, Trump would be right to describe Western calls for a two-state solution as being empty, unrealistic political posturing.
Perhaps a piecemeal approach might work. Europe / the UK, working through the UN, could propose rebuilding a small enclave within Gaza, while its people shelter throughout the rest of Gaza. Once that enclave became habitable, it could be handed back to Palestinian control in conjunction with the UN, allowing further phases of rebuilding, over one or more decades. Obstruction from Trump or Israel would have to be met with UN sanctions.
Another incredible fantasy? Perhaps. But the alternative is genocide.
While exiling people from their land without their consent is abhorrent, there is some sense in some sort of displacement while reconstruction of Gaza occurs. As the people of Gaza realise how much of their land has been flattened, more might agree to some temporary migration. What about dividing the territory into two and focusing on rebuilding one half and then allowing inhabitants to move to the other half while reconstruction continues?