Donald Trump told reporters this week that he deserved the Nobel Peace Prize for helping to free some of the Israeli hostages in Gaza. But, he went on, ‘they’ll never give it to me’. Trump’s chances of putting on white tie and tails in Oslo have receded to a distant speck with his plan to Make Gaza Great Again – by removing the Palestinians.
This proposal may have doomed the brittle ceasefire and jeopardised further hostage releases. It has made the prospect of a deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel vanishingly small. It might also end up destabilising Jordan and Egypt. But the agent of chaos in the Oval Office is doubling down and no one, least of all Trump, knows how this will end. The greatest uncertainty of all surrounds the question of Trump’s intentions towards Iran.
Although Trump read from a script when announcing the US Gaza takeover, it did not look like much forethought had gone into the idea. Trump’s own senior staff seemed to be taken by surprise. For a few days it appeared this might be another crazy Trump idea that is quickly forgotten. Officials began a tentative walk-back, but all week Trump has continued to publicly muse about Gaza: ‘We’re going to take it, we’re going to hold it, we’re going to cherish it.’ In response to a reporter’s question – almost, it seemed, on the spur of the moment – he said Egypt and Jordan would have to take the Gaza refugees, and could lose American aid if they refused. ‘They say they’re not going to accept them.
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