{"id":43665,"date":"2025-02-16T04:37:36","date_gmt":"2025-02-16T09:37:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/rubio-visits-israel-as-trump-pushes-plan-to-expel-palestinians-from-gaza\/16\/02\/2025\/"},"modified":"2025-02-16T04:37:36","modified_gmt":"2025-02-16T09:37:36","slug":"rubio-visits-israel-as-trump-pushes-plan-to-expel-palestinians-from-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/rubio-visits-israel-as-trump-pushes-plan-to-expel-palestinians-from-gaza\/16\/02\/2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Rubio Visits Israel as Trump Pushes Plan to Expel Palestinians From Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Secretary of State Marco Rubio prepared for meetings on Sunday in Jerusalem as political chaos rippled across the Middle East over President Trump\u2019s insistent <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/05\/us\/politics\/trump-gaza-netanyahu-takeover.html\" title=\"\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">proposals<\/a> to seize the devastated Gaza Strip and force out its Palestinian residents.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The trip is Mr. Rubio\u2019s <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.state.gov\/secretary-rubios-travel-to-germany-israel-saudi-arabia-and-the-united-arab-emirates\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">first to the region<\/a> as secretary of state, and comes as Israel and Hamas negotiate to turn a tenuous cease-fire in Gaza into a permanent end to their war.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But Mr. Trump\u2019s improbable vision for transforming Gaza into an American-owned \u201cRiviera of the Middle East\u201d has overshadowed that high-stakes discussion, and Mr. Rubio is sure to be pressed for more clarity about the plan during his visits to Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It is unclear whether Mr. Rubio will have any details to offer, however, and not only because Mr. Trump\u2019s plan is as vague as it is contentious \u2014 it is unclear whether Mr. Rubio himself takes the president literally.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Rubio, a former Florida senator with a far more conventional worldview and style than the president, has more than once suggested that Mr. Trump\u2019s idea is mainly a negotiating tactic meant to provoke Arab leaders into taking more responsibility for the Palestinians.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Trump surprised the world with his Gaza plan during a Feb. 4 news conference in Washington with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has since called it \u201ca revolutionary, creative approach\u201d that should be studied. Mr. Netanyahu has not explicitly endorsed the idea, which some Israeli officials consider impractical.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After Arab officials in the region immediately denounced it, Mr. Rubio suggested to reporters that Mr. Trump was merely trying to \u201cget a reaction\u201d and \u201cstir\u201d other nations into providing more assistance for postwar Gaza.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Since then, however, Mr. Trump has doubled down, telling reporters in the Oval Office on two other occasions and in a Fox News interview that he intends to move forward with the plan. On Friday, Mahmoud Abbas, who governs the West Bank as the president of the Palestinian Authority, said the Palestinian people \u201cmust remain\u201d on their land.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The forced expulsion of Palestinians would be ethnic cleansing and a war crime, international law scholars say. More than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli military retaliation in Gaza for a Hamas-led assault in October 2023 that killed 1,200 people. Most of the dead on both sides have been civilians.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Trump has said Jordan and Egypt should allow the Palestinian residents of Gaza to move to their countries. The idea has long been promoted by the Israeli right but flatly rejected by Arab and Palestinian leaders as well as past U.S. presidents of both parties. King Abdullah II of Jordan publicly rejected Mr. Trump\u2019s proposal after a Wednesday meeting at the White House that was also attended by Mr. Rubio.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In a radio interview on Thursday, Mr. Rubio again spoke of Mr. Trump\u2019s idea less as a concrete objective and more as kind of diplomatic stink bomb aimed at Arab nations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cAll these countries say how much they care about the Palestinians, but none of them want to take any Palestinians. None of them have a history of doing anything for Gaza in that matter,\u201d Mr. Rubio said. \u201cSo the president says, all right, then this is what we\u2019re going to do. We\u2019ll take it on. We\u2019ll have to move people around.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt\u2019s the only plan out there right now,\u201d he added. \u201cNow, if someone has a better plan \u2014 and we hope they do \u2014 if the Arab countries have a better plan, then that\u2019s great.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Rubio suggested that any Arab proposal should address the mammoth task of reconstructing Gaza and deploying a multinational security force to fight remnants of Hamas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI can tell you that any plan that leaves Hamas there is going to be a problem, because Israel is not going to tolerate it.\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Rubio made no mention of months of work by the Biden administration, led by former Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, to devise just such a plan. By the end of last year, Biden administration officials said they were getting close to a complex agreement that would bring Arab security forces and reconstruction funds to Gaza along with greater accountability to the Palestinian Authority, which President Joe Biden said should play a leading role in a postwar Gaza.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But any such plan is only possible once the war in Gaza comes to an end, and progress toward that depends on extending a cease-fire agreement that is set to end in March and that revolves around hostage-prisoner exchanges.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Rubio arrived in Israel the same day that Hamas released three Israeli hostages, including a dual American citizen, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/live\/2025\/02\/15\/world\/israel-hamas-gaza-hostages\" title=\"\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">in exchange for 369 Palestinian prisoners<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Israeli and American governments had been pressuring Hamas for days to release the hostages in hopes of sustaining the cease-fire first reached with the prodding of Biden and Trump aides in mid-January. Mr. Trump warned last Monday that Israel could cancel the agreement and that \u201call hell is going to break out\u201d if Hamas did not release all remaining hostages by noon on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Rubio is on his second trip as secretary of state. He landed in Israel on Saturday night after spending a couple of days at the Munich Security Conference, and plans to fly to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates after meetings in Jerusalem. Mr. Rubio had planned to stop in Qatar earlier, but that was not on the announced schedule.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In Saudi Arabia, Mr. Rubio and two other top Trump aides plan to meet with Russian officials to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Rubio\u2019s travels have attracted little public reaction in Israel, amid uncertainty about the secretary\u2019s influence in comparison to Steve Witkoff, the president\u2019s Mideast envoy, and other advisers to Mr. Trump.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">More broadly, Israeli government officials have warmly welcomed the Trump administration\u2019s support for Israel. Mr. Netanyahu issued a statement on Tuesday that hailed \u201cthe president\u2019s revolutionary vision for the future of Gaza.\u201d He also credited Mr. Trump on Saturday with helping to ensure that the cease-fire remained intact through the weekend.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Still, it is unclear whether Mr. Netanyahu sees Mr. Trump\u2019s plan to expel Gaza\u2019s residents as a viable postwar strategy, even if the idea has been praised by Mr. Netanyahu\u2019s far-right allies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Netanyahu himself has avoided direct commentary on the premise of a U.S.-led building project in Gaza. Instead, the Israeli leadership seems more focused on a short-term goal \u2014 securing U.S. support for resuming the war if the cease-fire breaks down. Mr. Netanyahu has repeatedly said the war cannot end before Hamas is defeated, but it will be harder to renew the fighting without Mr. Trump\u2019s blessing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/16\/us\/politics\/marco-rubio-israel-gaza.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Secretary of State Marco Rubio prepared for meetings on Sunday in Jerusalem as political chaos rippled across the Middle East over President<br \/><button class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/rubio-visits-israel-as-trump-pushes-plan-to-expel-palestinians-from-gaza\/16\/02\/2025\/\">Read More &rsaquo;<\/a><\/button><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43667,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43665"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}