Trump Walks Back Controversial Gaza Remarks in Apparent Coordination with Saudi Arabia

WASHINGTON DC, United States (Kurdistan 24) - Speaking in an interview on Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump substantially revised his earlier, highly controversial remarks on Gaza, in which he suggested that its residents should be moved to Jordan and Egypt and the area turned over to the U.S. to rebuild it as a Riviera-like resort.

That idea was roundly denounced in the Middle East, including by Jordan and Egypt, as well as Saudi Arabia. The U.S. response was, essentially, to say: If you don’t like that idea, what’s your idea? 

Thus, Trump told Fox News radio that while he still thought that his plan to take over Gaza “really works,” he added, “but I’m not forcing it, I’m just going to sit back and recommend it.”

The second term Trump administration and the Saudi leadership appear to be cultivating close ties. One notable example: Riyadh was chosen as the site for the first U.S.-Russian talks on Ukraine.

Another example involves the promise of large-scale Saudi investment in the U.S.--as much as $500 billion over the next several years.

Read more: US Officials Meet Saudi Leaders Ahead of Talks with Russia

One consequence of these closer ties is that Riyadh appears to be taking a leading role in trying to meet the U.S. challenge to develop an Arab plan for Gaza.

Hamas’s Blunder—and the Destruction of Gaza

Gaza has been subject to enormous destruction since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, brutal cross-border assault into Israel. Hamas killed over 1,200 Israelis and took over 240 civilians back into Gaza as hostages. 

Hamas also committed mass rape. There are no reliable statistics, but The New York Times concluded, “The attacks against women were not isolated events, but part of a broader pattern of gender-based violence on Oct. 7.”

It is virtually without precedent for a weaker power to attack a much stronger power in such a fashion, with widespread acts of violence, including mass murder and mass rape. 

Japanese forces did commit such atrocities fighting in what proved a prelude to World War II. They did so in China, as well as Korea. ISIS committed similar outrages against the Yezidis. But Japan and ISIS were the stronger parties in their conflicts. For a weaker party to act in such a way is different, and it has had a predictable result: a merciless retaliation.

It is difficult to understand just what the calculations of Hamas’s leadership were. Iran is a major supporter of Hamas, as Trump charged in one of the first decisions of his new term. 

Read More: Trump Restores Tough Line on Iran

That may help explain why Hamas undertook to carry out such a self-destructive assault on Oct. 7, 2023. Perhaps, that attack was part of a larger Iranian strategy, in which Tehran mobilized its proxies, including in Lebanon, Yemen, and Iraq, for a multi-front attack on Israel, as Amb. John Bolton, who served as National Security Adviser in Trump’s first term, has suggested.

Read More: Amb. John Bolton: Biden Administration fails to understand Iran’s centrality in regional attacks

Prelude to Trump’s Shift—Steve Witkoff’s Statements to the Saudi Public Investment Fund

The first suggestion that Trump was backing away from his Gaza proposal came as the U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, spoke on Thursday in Miami, Florida to a conference of the Future Investment Institute (FII), a Saudi backed non-profit organization that seeks to promote international investments with the goal of advancing global cooperation, as its website explains. It is run by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF.)

FII’s Board of Trustees includes the Saudi ambassador to the U.S., HRH Princess Reema Bint Bandar al-Saud, daughter of Prince Bandar al-Saud, who served for 22 years as his country’s envoy to Washington—from 1983 to 2005.

Thus, Princess Reema was raised in Washington; studied at George Washington University, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree; and in 2019, became the first female Saudi ambassador to the U.S.

Witkoff told the conference that Trump’s remarks were about exploring different approaches to Gaza’s long-standing problems, as Asharq Al-Awsat reported.

“Trump's plan for Gaza was not about evicting Palestinians,” the prominent Saudi media outlet reported, summarizing Witkoff’s remarks. Rather it was about “how to create a better future for Palestinians.”

Witkoff recently visited Gaza, and he said, according to The National, a media outlet based in Abu Dhabi, “I sat in Gaza with a bulletproof vest on, looking at the scenery there, and I don’t know why anyone would want to live there today.”

However, Witkoff added, “Doesn’t mean that you can’t have some sort of right to return, if that’s the policy prescription that works for people.”

“When the President talks about this,” Witkoff added, “it means he wants to shake up everyone’s thinking, and think about what is the best solution for the Palestinian people.”

Informal Summit in Riyadh

On Friday, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, the country’s de facto leader, hosted a gathering of leaders from seven Arab states, in addition to Saudi Arabia itself: Riyadh’s five partners in the Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates) plus Egypt and Jordan, to coordinate an Arab position on Gaza and Trump’s proposal. 

The meeting was held in advance of an emergency Arab summit which will convene next month in Egypt.

The mini-summit in Riyadh did not issue any statement, which may suggest the difficulties in reaching a consensual position on the very difficult issue that Gaza poses.

According to a report from the Saudi Press Agency, “The meeting included consultations on various regional and international issues, with a focus on joint efforts to support the Palestinian cause and address developments in the Gaza Strip.” 

“The leaders welcomed the emergency Arab summit scheduled for Cairo on March 4, 2025,” it affirmed.