CHICAGO (WLS) — There were individuals who went to Springfield in support of the Palestinian community following remarks made by President Donald Trump about his vision for transforming the Gaza Strip into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”
How he plans to do that, where people living there would go and who will foot the bill remain unknown Wednesday.
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“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip,” Trump said Tuesday during a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The president’s statements are drawing a strong reaction Wednesday.
Local experts say the U.S. might not have the right to do so.
The White House is standing by President Trump’s proposal for a Gaza takeover and relocating millions of Palestinians.
“We will take ownership and assume responsibility for clearing all the hazardous, unexploded ordnance and other weaponry in the area, demolish the existing structures, flatten the land, stimulate economic growth,” stated Trump.
Mateo Farzaneh, chair of the History Department at Northeastern Illinois University, isn’t sure that would be allowed.
“There might be challenges pertaining to the legality and adherence to international laws in executing such plans. Additionally, there are significant issues surrounding the resettlement of the affected population, as there are well over a million individuals who have been displaced,” Farzaneh expressed.
President Trump suggested displaced Palestinians in Gaza be resettled outside the war-torn territory in neighboring countries.
Saudi Arabia and Jordan already said they would not take them.
“Where do we go? How do we do this? Who is going to finance this? How are these people going to survive if they go from point A to point B? What is going to greet them?” Farzaneh said.
Dr. Osamah Abdallah with the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago was en route to Springfield Wednesday morning to advocate for the Palestinian people, who, he said, have not been part of this conversation.
“This is a land we’ve been tied to for thousands and thousands of years, and to simply be told to pick up and leave is extremely insensitive. It’s very un-American,” Abdallah said.
The comments left many Jewish and Muslim groups wondering what comes next.
The idea is being roundly dismissed.
Democratic lawmakers are criticizing the president’s plan, which they say completely ignores the sovereignty of those who have lived in Gaza for generations.
“We want them to stay in their land; we want them to live in peace. We want them to have basic human rights and to be recognized as human beings and to have basic dignity. And these statements completely erase our dignity, erase our existence and completely dismiss our basic human rights,” Abdallah said.
The president said he isn’t ruling out sending U.S. troops over to secure American ownership of the strip or support its reconstruction.
On Daley Plaza Tuesday afternoon, a group called Indivisible Chicago hosted a protest rally, calling on Illinois’ two senators to oppose the proposal by President Trump that the U.S. take over Gaza.
“What do we need our senators to do? Stand up; fight back!” they chanted.
Several Muslim organizations are calling the notion ridiculous and the president out of touch with international law.
“Whether he’s serious or not, this is a silly plan that will not take hold. Nobody in the region believes in this plan. Palestinians will not leave their land. They fought tooth and nail for their land,” said Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Council On American Islamic Relations Chicago.
Cantor David Berger with congregation KAM Isaiah Israel in Hyde Park was willing to speak publicly about the proposal, while many other Jewish groups declined.
“It’s preposterous at the beginning, and for so many reasons. And I will say for me, as a person who takes a lot of time learning Jewish tradition, there is a principle in the Talmud that, actually it says, a land cannot be stolen,” Berger said. “I think we have enough experience in Western history of what it is to uproot people and move them, and that it is always, always a terrible, oppressive, horrible choice.”
Gov. JB Pritzker also spoke out Wednesday.
“This one, let me just be clear, is dangerous for the Middle East. It’s dangerous for Israel. It’s dangerous for Palestinians, and it’s dangerous for the United States,” he said.
Bridgeview is a diverse community, which includes many Palestinian Americans.
On Wednesday, some residents said there have been many discussions about the recent comments made by President Trump.
“It’s a conversation my whole entire family is having,” Bridgeview teacher and mother Fida Zoubeidi said. “It was literally a slap in the face; it made us feel disheartened, sad, very sad for them, as a people who don’t want to leave their homeland, even after what they’ve been through.”
“It’s not even like he’s talking about people. It’s like, ‘oh, let’s move these toys out of this room. No, that’s not how it works. There are people who have been living there for generations. It’s very hard to hear as an American citizen that my president would say that about Palestinians,” said Amira Daoud, with American Muslims for Palestine.
Emergency medicine physician Thaer Ahmad has done several humanitarian missions to Gaza.
“We don’t need people talking about beachfront properties. We need to make sure people have clean water, that they have enough food to eat and that there is medicine there for them to be able to be treated,” Dr. Ahmad said.
Among the reactions to Trump’s idea, Rabbi Steven Philp, with Mishkan Chicago, said he is in touch with both Israelis and Palestinians.
“Those individuals see the only secure future as a shared future and personally don’t see how displacement of over 2 million people would lead to that secure shared future,” Philp said.
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