GAZA, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump's suggestion that the United States could take control of Gaza and relocate Palestinians has sparked widespread condemnation across the occupied Palestinian territories, with residents and leaders vowing to resist any displacement from their homeland.

Speaking alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a joint press conference on Tuesday, Trump said the U.S. would "take control of the Gaza Strip" and redevelop it, though he provided no specifics on how Palestinians might be resettled. "We are going to develop it, create thousands and thousands of jobs, and it will be something the entire Middle East can be proud of," he said.

The response from Gaza was swift and scathing. In the devastated Nuseirat refugee camp, graffiti on a shattered wall echoed a defiant message: "We are here... and we will stay here."

Mahmoud Abu Odeh, a young Gazan man in his twenties, said the message spoke volumes.

"This is not just a slogan," he said. "It's a message to the world and Trump. He may see us as mere numbers in news reports, but we are alive and carry this land in our blood."

Seventy-two-year-old Hajja Om Hassan, displaced during the 1948 Nakba, or "catastrophe," watched children playing among the debris.

"I first heard 'displacement' as a girl. Now, decades later, the U.S. repeats it," she remarked.

In the northern Jabalia refugee camp, resident Mohammed Abdul Rahman stood amid the ruins of his destroyed home, condemning what he called a U.S.-Israeli effort to "erase Palestinians from history, mirroring the colonial crimes against Native Americans."

"Do they think we'll pack our bags and leave? Never," he said.

In Khan Younis, southern Gaza, Om Mohammed Daoud, who lost her sons in the conflict, gestured to the rubble around her.

"This is my home. My sons' bodies are proof of their crimes. I will never leave," she declared.

Many Palestinians framed Trump's statements as the latest escalation in decades of U.S. bias toward Israeli policies.

"This is not a war on Hamas -- it is a war on our very existence," said Mohammed al-Saady, whose brother was killed in a recent airstrike. "The U.S. seeks to advance a colonial agenda at our expense, but such schemes are doomed to fail."

In the occupied West Bank, where Israeli military raids and arrests have intensified in the past weeks, Ramallah resident Daoud Abu Suleiman said the proposal treats Palestinians as "commodities" to be bought and sold.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rejected Trump's comments as a "blatant violation of international law," adding: "No one has the right to decide our fate but us. We will not allow such schemes to pass."

He urged the international community to oppose "dangerous provocations" and uphold Palestinian self-determination. Enditem

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)