A Beautiful Real Estate Deal
By
It is clear that Donald Trump has no concept of the history of Israel and Palestine. He sees an opportunity in real estate. His words support this consistently. And he feels strongly about it.
The problem is what we do about that. Some parts of the media are running with trying to make geopolitical sense of his words, which is a category error. He is not talking about geopolitics, although if you pressed him, he might say he is. He is talking about a great, beautiful redevelopment opportunity, which of course is big enough to be geopolitical. And it will be a benefit to the people involved.
He does have a dull sense that people’s homes and everything that makes a place liveable have been destroyed. His humanitarian impulse is to make a better place for them. But yes, we must bring in the front end loaders to clean up the mess, so they will have to be somewhere else for a while.
His words are remarkably consistent. I’ve taken them from this transcript. I’ve put them into one big quote, but there are ellipses between them.
…we should go to other countries of interest with humanitarian hearts, and there are many of them that want to do this and build various domains that will ultimately be occupied by the 1.8 million Palestinians living in Gaza, ending the death and destruction and frankly bad luck.
It could be numerous sites, or it could be one large site. But the people will be able to live in comfort and peace and we’ll get — we’ll make sure something really spectacular is done.
The only reason the Palestinians want to go back to Gaza is they have no alternative. It’s right now a demolition site.
They instead can occupy all of a beautiful area with homes and safety and they can live out their lives in peace and harmony instead of having to go back and do it again. The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it too.
We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings, level it out. Create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area.
That’s from his opening statement in the press conference with Bibi Netanyahu. There is no consideration of an attempt to learn what the Palestinians want. Notice the similarity to a real estate ad: A beautiful area with homes and safety and peace and harmony. You can see the slick magazine ad with lovely blond children playing. “We’ll own it” is a danger signal for all concerned.
In an answer to a question,
I do see a long-term ownership position and I see it bringing great stability to that part of the Middle East, and maybe the entire Middle East. And everybody I’ve spoken to — this was not a decision made lightly. Everybody I’ve spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land, developing and creating thousands of jobs with something that will be magnificent in a really magnificent area that nobody would know.
“Everyone I’ve spoken to” seems to be nobody in the Departments of State or Defense, according to a New York Times article. Maybe Jared Kushner. According to that article, this proposal took everyone in his administration and Netanyahu by surprise. Again, look at the real estate language. “A long-term ownership position? Yikes!
In answer to a further question, he does not see Palestinian autonomy as part of the deal. It will be a tourist spot, most likely for rich people. I’m including the whole answer.
A: I envision a world — people living there, the world’s people. I think you’ll make that into an international, unbelievable place. I think the potential in the Gaza Strip is unbelievable. And I think the entire world, representatives from all over the world will be there and they’ll –
Q: [Inaudible] Palestinians?
A: And they’ll live there. Palestinians also. Palestinians will live there, many people will live there. But they’ve tried the other and they’ve tried it for decades and decades and decades. It’s not going to work it work. It didn’t work. It will never work. And you have to learn from history. History has — you know, you just can’t let it keep repeating itself.
We have an opportunity to do something that could be phenomenal. And I don’t want to be cute. I don’t want to be a wise guy. But the Riviera of the Middle East, this could be something that could be so –
This could be so magnificent. But more importantly than that is the people that have been absolutely destroyed that live there now can live in peace in a much better situation because they are living in hell. And those people will now be able to live in peace. We’ll make sure that it’s done world class.
He reiterated his vision in a post this morning.
No soldiers would be needed! The deal would pay for itself! And Chuck Schumer is a Palestinian?
Trump’s conception of the problem as a real estate deal is a category error. He simply is not seeing the world as it is. It reminds me of when my brother and I visited my mother in a nursing home. We ran into a woman with dementia who thought we were from the next ranch over and had come to talk about scheduling our bull’s visit to her ranch. We chatted with her for a while, and she seemed pleased with the outcome.
The difference is that Trump is the President of the United States.