The Trump Administration is reportedly working on a plan to permanently relocate one million Palestinians from the occupied Gaza Strip to Libya, reports said, while citing five US officials on Friday.
The plan is allegedly under serious enough consideration that the US has discussed it with the Libyan government, reports said, and the final arrangement between the two is yet to be reached.
In exchange for resettling the Palestinians, the administration would release to Libya billions of dollars of funds the US froze more than a decade ago.
As per the report, the three officials cited have confirmed that Israel has been kept in the loop about the ongoing negotiations.
“These reports are untrue,” an administration spokesperson told reporters in response. “The situation on the ground is untenable for such a plan. Such a plan was not discussed and makes no sense.”
While the US has been trying all sorts of things to resettle the Gazans elsewhere, the plans have been seen by the experts as “evil, aimed to disenfranchise people of Gaza.”
Meanwhile, neither the Israeli government nor the Libyan government commented on the issue, suggesting that there might be some discussions going on in hindsight regarding the Gaza resettlement.
The US might try to lure the Palestinians with financial stipends, which it had indirectly floated earlier, but they were categorically rejected by the Palestinians.
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Additionally, there are reports that members of the Trump administration have raised questions on how 1 million refugees could be resettled in a lawless North African country that is still witnessing violence since the 2011 civil war against the then ruler, Muammar Gaddafi.
US President Donald Trump triggered global perplexity in early February by suggesting the US “take over” Gaza and turn it into a “Middle East Riviera” while forcing its Palestinian inhabitants to relocate to Egypt, Jordan, or other countries. He has since said, however, that no Gazans would be expelled.
Visiting the Middle East this week, Trump said he wanted the United States to “take” Gaza and turn it into a “freedom zone”: “I have concepts for Gaza that I think are very good. Make it a freedom zone. Let the United States get involved and make it just a freedom zone,” he said. “I’d be proud to have the United States have it, take it, and make it a freedom zone.”
While Israeli far-right ministers are demanding that the Netanyahu government occupy and resettle settlers in Gaza, the Arab League has condemned the move, saying this could send the region into all-out chaos, and all the responsibility will be on Israel.
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