Although no day has gone uneventful since President Donald Trump's arrival in the White House, his radical policy on the Israel-Palestine issue may face stiff resistance from the Arab world as well the global south. Trump's first term in office saw some of the contours of his policy unfolding in a rather non-aggressive, but provocative manner.
It started with Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and the relocation of the US embassy there, simply violating the longstanding international consensus, which views East Jerusalem as occupied territory and the future capital of a Palestinian state. Arab states, including key US allies, saw this as undermining the Palestinian claim to Jerusalem and destabilising prospects for a two-state solution.
The Trump administration also legitimised Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which are deemed illegal under international law. This stance eroded the territorial basis for a viable Palestinian state, drawing condemnation from Arab nations committed to Palestinian self-determination.
The so-called 'Deal of the Century' peace plan proposed by Trump in 2020 favoured Israeli annexation of significant parts of the West Bank, denied Palestinian refugees the right of return, and offered a fragmented Palestinian entity with limited sovereignty. Arab leaders rejected the plan as one-sided, arguing it ignored core Palestinian rights and international law. Another major initiative by the Trump administration was the normalisation via the Abraham Accords. While some Arab states - the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco - normalised relations with Israel through the Abraham Accords, others criticised the agreements for sidelining Palestinian interests. Countries like Algeria, Iran and Qatar opposed normalisation without progress on Palestinian statehood, viewing it as a betrayal of collective Arab solidarity.
Meanwhile Trump's policies, including aid cuts to Palestinians and support for Israel's blockade of Gaza, exacerbated humanitarian crises. Arab nations, influenced by public sympathy for Palestinians, opposed these measures as punitive and detrimental to peace efforts. Many Arab governments have domestic populations deeply sympathetic to Palestine. Trump's unilateral approach disregarded multilateral frameworks (e.g. UN resolutions) and the Arab Peace Initiative, which emphasises a comprehensive resolution in exchange for normalisation. Arab states viewed this as undermining collective diplomacy.
Trump's second tenure has come at a time when the Israel-Palestine conflict has transformed into a full-scale war. The bombing of Gaza is now touching ninety thousand tons of TNT, equivalent to six Hiroshima sized bombs. So technically, Israel has delivered six atom bombs onto a small and highly dense locality of Gaza. Based on a study published on 23 January by The Lancet, UNRWA has reported that life expectancy in the Gaza Strip dropped from a pre-war average of 75.5 years to 40.5 years for the period between October 2023 and September 2024, decreasing by almost half (46.3 per cent) since the war began. Life expectancy losses were larger for males (51.6 per cent) than for females, but nonetheless, females also suffered large losses (38.6 per cent). However, the study does not consider the indirect effects of the war, making its estimates conservative.
In this backdrop, the Trump administration's policy of total eviction of Gaza population neither makes any sense nor is practicable. Pushed by the Zionist lobby in America, President Trump has now announced to 'clean' Gaza from Palestinian population and relocate them to neighbouring countries like Jordan and Egypt. And it's not going to end here. Enters Trump's nominee for Ambassadorship of UN, Elise Stefanik. As reported by Aljazeera, Stefanik has now gone to the extent of supporting the claim by far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and former National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir that Israel has a "biblical right to the entire West Bank".
Stefanik, who is known for her pro-Israel views, rose to national prominence in December 2023 for her vigorous questioning of university presidents during a publicly aired US House session on anti-Semitism. Stefanik's questions contributed to Liz Magill's departure as president of the University of Pennsylvania. The Zionist Organization of America presented Stefanik the Dr Miriam and Sheldon Adelson Defender of Israel Award. More recently Trump has vowed to punish those students and faculty members in the US who raised their voice for Gaza.
Let's come back to the major issue of the eviction of Palestinians from their lands. There is a strong opposition to such genocidal policies in the Arab street as well as the global south. CNN has highlighted the sentiment in the Arab nations in its recently published report, as follows:
"A key group of Arab nations has stated that they 'firmly' oppose any attempts to resettle or remove Palestinians from Gaza The foreign ministers of Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Egypt made a broad statement, expressing their desire to collaborate with Trump on a two-state solution in the Middle East.
"But they pushed back on Trump's suggestion to relocate Palestinians from Gaza. Without specifically referencing the president's proposal, the ministers reiterated a commitment to rebuilding the enclave while ensuring "the continued presence of Palestinians in their homeland.
"The nations 'firmly rejected any actions that threaten these rights, including settlement expansion, forced evictions, home demolitions, land annexation, or the displacement of Palestinians through direct expulsion or coerced migration'."
Arab nations oppose Trump's Israel policies and related actions concerning Gaza for several interconnected reasons, rooted in political, humanitarian and strategic concerns. Arab opposition stems from the perceived US bias toward Israel, erosion of Palestinian rights, humanitarian repercussions in Gaza, and the strategic need to balance regional alliances with domestic and pan-Arab sentiments.
Only time will tell whether President Trump and Stefanik, backed by the Zionist lobby, can keep perusing this lopsided and cockeyed policy or the pushback by influential Arab states will stem the tide of this irrational behaviour.
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