Palestinians cannot be uprooted: Palestine is theirs, and no power on earth can sever that bond

US President Donald Trump’s recent assertion that Gaza’s population should be resettled in Egypt, Jordan or elsewhere is more than just unconscionable; it is an explicit endorsement of forced population “transfer”, a war crime and a crime against humanity under international law. His remarks were not made in a vacuum; they come at a time when Israel has laid waste to Gaza’s infrastructure, killed tens of thousands of civilians, and sought to make the besieged enclave unliveable, in order to force people to flee, what is framed misleadingly as “voluntary migration”. By suggesting that Palestinians can be “moved elsewhere”, Trump not only absolves Israel of responsibility for its genocidal actions but also perpetuates the dangerous idea that Palestinians are a people without a homeland, with implanted roots and no culture or civilisation; simply people who can be relocated at will.

This idea is not new. It echoes the rhetoric and practice of America’s colonial past, when indigenous populations were forcibly removed from their ancestral lands.

However, the fundamental truth remains that Palestinians belong to Palestine, and Palestine belongs to them.

Not just through legal or political rights, but by centuries of history, cultural development and other deep-rooted connections to the land itself. The forced removal of Gaza’s population would not only violate international law, but also constitute an assault on the very fabric of Palestinian identity and civilisation.

A legal and moral crime

The mass displacement of Palestinians is not just a hypothetical policy discussion; it is a grave violation of international law. The Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 prohibits explicitly the forcible transfer of populations under occupation, classifying it as a war crime. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) further defines deportation or population transfer as a crime against humanity when carried out systematically. More importantly, under the 1948 Genocide Convention, the deliberate destruction of a people’s way of life — including forced removal — can be considered an act of genocide if it is done with intent to erase a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.

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Trump’s suggestion that Gaza’s population should be moved elsewhere effectively acknowledges that Israel has made Gaza unliveable, an admission that aligns with one of the key indicators of genocide. The destruction of homes, schools, hospitals and essential infrastructure has already created conditions that push Palestinians toward forced displacement. Proposing the next step — their relocation — only solidifies the criminality of these actions.

Palestine is more than a homeland

What Trump and others who promote resettlement fail to understand is that Palestine is not simply a geographic location for its people. It is an ancient land with a continuous civilisation that stretches back thousands of years. Palestinians are not simply residents of a territory; they are the descendants of generations who have cultivated the land, built its cities, shaped its culture and formed an unbreakable bond with it.

The history of Palestinian civilisation is not incidental.

The ancestors of today’s Palestinians — the Canaanites — established some of the world’s oldest urban settlements in Palestine over 5,000 years ago, building cities like Askalan and Jericho, which remains one of the longest continually inhabited places on Earth. Through the centuries, Palestine was home to diverse civilisations, including Phoenicians, Romans, Byzantines and early Islamic societies, each of whom contributed to the rich cultural tapestry of the land.

Gaza itself has long been a centre of commerce and culture. Under the Mamluks and Ottomans, it thrived as a coastal hub, connecting the Mediterranean to inland trade routes. The city’s ancient mosques, Christian monasteries and bustling souks — now destroyed by the occupation state — all told the story of a place deeply embedded in the cultural and economic life of the region. To propose that its people can simply be moved to another land is to suggest that history itself can be erased.

A land that shaped its people

The attachment that Palestinians have to their land is not just historical; it is personal, agricultural and deeply spiritual. The green hillsides of Palestine, cultivated carefully for centuries, reflect the intimate relationship between people and nature. The olive trees, some of which are over a thousand years old, are living symbols of endurance and connection to the land. Families pass down homes, fields and even specific trees from generation to generation, embedding their history into the very soil of Palestine.

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Palestinian poetry, music and oral traditions are steeped in the imagery of the land. The great poet Mahmoud Darwish, whose verses capture the Palestinian longing for home, often wrote of exile as a form of death, where separation from the land is a severance of identity itself. For Palestinians, to be forced from their homes is not just a loss of property, but also a rupture of memory, connection with the land and selfhood.

The colonial model of forced removal must not be repeated

Trump’s remarks reflect a dangerous colonial model of population control, one that has already played out in history and led to devastating consequences. The idea of removing indigenous people from their land and placing them in separate, controlled spaces is not new. The United States itself was built on such policies, including the forced displacement of Native Americans through treaties, wars and the reservation system. The notion that indigenous peoples could be moved away from their lands and confined to isolated areas was a central pillar of US colonial expansion, leading to cultural destruction, economic deprivation and systemic marginalisation.

However, that model — one of displacement, apartheid and settler-colonialism — cannot and must not be repeated in the 21st century, especially not after decades of UN declarations affirming human rights, self-determination and the protection of indigenous peoples. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966) and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007) all explicitly reject forced displacement, cultural erasure and the denial of a people’s sovereignty. The world has already condemned the crimes of colonialism, yet Trump’s suggestion would revive those very tactics under a new guise.

To propose that Palestinians be removed from their homeland and “relocated” elsewhere is to ignore the entire body of international human rights law developed in the post-colonial era. It is a reactionary proposal that belongs to an era of conquest and dispossession, not to a modern world that claims to uphold justice and equality.

A moral and political obligation to resist

Some may dismiss Trump’s remarks as mere rhetoric, but words have power. They shape narratives, influence policies and create dangerous precedents if left unchallenged. The international community of 193 countries is called to stand up with the moral and legal obligation to push back forcefully against any attempt to normalise forced displacement.

Legal bodies such as the ICC must investigate these proposals within the framework of war crimes. The UN must reaffirm the Palestinian right to remain in their homeland. Journalists and analysts must expose the genocidal implications of making Gaza unliveable while simultaneously proposing to move its people elsewhere.

Above all, Palestinians themselves must be heard and listened to.

Their steadfastness in the face of dispossession, their deep-rooted connection to their land and their refusal to be erased are testaments to the resilience of a people whose civilisation cannot be uprooted.

His statement may reflect Trump’s dangerous vision, but history has shown that Palestinians do not disappear, nor do they surrender their homeland. They remain, they resist, and they assert, again and again, that Palestine is theirs, and no power on earth can sever that bond.

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