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Scholars of international law say President Trump’s proposal for American control of a Gaza without Palestinians would be ethnic cleansing and a war crime.
Feb. 16, 2025, 12:01 a.m. ET
Secretary of State Marco Rubio prepared for meetings on Sunday in Jerusalem as political chaos rippled across the Middle East over President Trump’s insistent proposals to seize the devastated Gaza Strip and force out its Palestinian residents.
The trip is Mr. Rubio’s first to the region as secretary of state, and comes as Israel and Hamas negotiate to turn a tenuous cease-fire in Gaza into a permanent end to their war.
But Mr. Trump’s improbable vision for transforming Gaza into an American-owned “Riviera of the Middle East” has overshadowed that high-stakes discussion, and Mr. Rubio is sure to be pressed for more clarity about the plan during his visits to Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
It is unclear whether Mr. Rubio will have any details to offer, however, and not only because Mr. Trump’s plan is as vague as it is contentious — it is unclear whether Mr. Rubio himself takes the president literally.
Mr. Rubio, a former Florida senator with a far more conventional worldview and style than the president, has more than once suggested that Mr. Trump’s idea is mainly a negotiating tactic meant to provoke Arab leaders into taking more responsibility for the Palestinians.
Mr. Trump surprised the world with his Gaza plan during a Feb. 4 news conference in Washington with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has since called it “a revolutionary, creative approach” that should be studied. Mr. Netanyahu has not explicitly endorsed the idea, which some Israeli officials consider impractical.
