Why 2025 could be the most disastrous for Arabs and Palestinians in particular

From US President Donald Trump’s perspective, the disaster in Gaza is about adequate housing, sanitation and maybe a few schools, a couple of hospitals and a couple of high rise structures to add some flavour to the place and make it a little more “sexy” for the eye! Real estate contractors, after all, only see a piece of land in need of development but only after it is cleared of old buildings and people. It does not make sense, really, to start work with people around when developing a site; does it? This is Trump’s view of the complicated geopolitics of the world.

Everything else to him is mere detail both in the historical context and in the present moment. Trump’s cognitive poverty outside the realm of demolition, removal and construction is almost scandalous. The man believes that God created him to be a “developer” of the world on the basis of “deals” that do not respect the sanctity of place, time, taste or the sanctity of life itself except for the sake of money and more of it.

In this distorted context, the entire problem in Gaza is about housing more or less. It has nothing to do with historical injustices committed by gangs against the indigenous population over the decades. And for the “adequate” housing to come about, the entire place must be cleared of its people first and bulldozers will take care of the land.

Imposing this contractor blueprint on the geopolitics of the world deprives Gazans of any rights to stay on their land and far less rights to enjoy the new homes proposed for the enclave by the president of the world’s super bully; the United States of America.

For Trump’s “Riviera of the Middle East” in Gaza is the future of the region and everything else is the past. Developers usually do not like to look back, preferring instead to look beyond the horizon as they try to imagine their upcoming projects.

Trump, who loves surrounding himself with the most loyal – even if less competent – yes-sir men, does not like to be advised nor corrected, leaving his advisors with one option: to advance his agenda even when it is untenable, extremely flawed, naive and impractical. His Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, was quick to formulate his boss’ nonsense into a catchy motto saying the US is ready to lead “Make Gaza Beautiful Again.”

Trump’s first year in office could prove to be the most disastrous for Arabs and Palestinians in particular. Being such a transactional man, he represents the worst in American foreign policy and far worse than any of his 14 predecessors who resided in the White House after World War II. He is giving new life to Charles Erwin Wilson’s, former chairman of General Motors and Eisenhower’s secretary of defence, who famously said: “For years I thought what was good for our country was good for General Motors, and vice versa.”

Trump, within his first month in the White House, made the Arabs look like a bunch of fools with loads of cash waiting for him to invest for them for the good, not of their nations, but of America and Israel. He started his first term (2016-2020) by upending the long held US policy of supporting the two-state solution and never to recognise the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Syrian Golan Heights. His term ended with his infamous Deal of the Century to end the Palestinian issue on Israel’s terms, literally, reducing the Palestinian nation into no more than homeless people deserving handouts. That deal, despite its overall failure, led to regional breakthrough when four Arab countries, indirectly, endorsed it by normalising ties with Israel—Trump’s foremost darling.

The man is so obsessed with the idea of being the most Israel loyal American politician in history to the point of even criticising American Jews for not supporting him as much as evangelicals do—a religiously loaded claim. He went further in 2019 calling himself “the King of Israel” and said the Jewish state is a “miracle” in the world. This kind of rhetoric is, in a way, not only insulting to Muslims and Christians as it disregards their spiritual attachment to the Holy Land, but also puts Israel above any religious or other criticism despite its shameful record of discrimination and apartheid policies against its non Jewish residents.

His second term has started with the bizarre idea of forcibly displacing Palestinians from Gaza in order to make it the “Riviera of the Middle East”, dumping its over 2.3 million people into the deserts of Jordan and Egypt and maybe other countries too. This kind of rhetoric is indicative of his thinking that Palestinians, as a nation with rights, are reduced to far less status he prescribed for them in his first term—disqualifying them even from charities! It further says to the Palestinians that their Arab supporters do not exist and their global sympathisers are nothing more than a misinformed bunch and potential supporters of “terrorism”. The best solution for such people is dumping them where they will never see their homes again.

The year has only just started, making it the most horrible for Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims and Christians alike from the American prism already. This also provides a preview of how Trump’s four-year term will end for the Middle East. Going by what has already happened, darker days and months lie ahead.

The Trump Administration has, so far, shown Arabs and Palestinians that they are not a serious party to any US sponsored deal/settlement unless they accept what is thrown at them by the White House. And any deal that goes ahead should disregard them altogether.

Based on what Trump has said, done and proposed so far, one can conclude the worst is yet to come. The good thing though is the simple fact that Palestinians and their supporters, including their Arab brothers, have seen worse days and darker years and have never budged and there is no reason for them to do so now.

READ: Arab League Summit or Israeli Summit?

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.