Lights! Glamour! Action!

In one of the most fascinating statements The Donald has ever made - and that’s saying something - the Gaza Strip will be renamed the MAGA Strip, with the U.S. taking over management of the flattened former Palestinian territory.

Tel Aviv may be “Miami on the Med,” but those meshuganers will have a battle on their hands. The new Trump Mega MAGA Hotel and Casino, just onshore from the former Gaza’s lovely underwater natural gas reserves, will be the world’s greatest and most fantastic casino ever.

Known to most as “Lost Wages,” Las Vegas will be used as an old folks’ home as the glitterati head to the war zone turned exclusive resort. Word has it that the President may apply to USAID for development funds: just one last grant before Elon puts them out of business for good.

Ok, enough fun for one post. Let’s get serious.

The Eastern Mediterranean

I’ve never been to Gaza. After all, why would I go there? But back in 2006, I visited the Sinai Peninsula, which is quite close and where the good President thinks he can coax the Palestinians to live.

I learned to scuba dive in Sharm El-Sheikh, at the southern tip of the Sinai. One day, I visited St. Catherine’s Monastery. Although the Burning Bush wasn’t burning, the monastery was among the most inspirational places I’ve ever visited. On the way back, we visited Dahab, another favorite of scuba divers.

The Sinai is sparsely populated for one simple reason: there’s no water, potable or otherwise, anywhere to be found. It’s why the Sahara, the western U.S., and the entire middle of Australia are empty. Don’t trust me. Just ask the late great philosopher and poet Sam Kinison.

Oh, and it gets to 50 degrees Celsius or 122 Fahrenheit on hot days. That’s not a typo. “Unbearable” doesn’t begin to describe that heat.

And there are no oil, metals, or minerals under the surface. It’s the most worthless piece of dirt in the Middle East.

If that’s true, and it is, why would The Donald contemplate “renovating” the entire strip?

Well, for one thing, he thinks this will end the cycle of violence. I’m not so sure about that, but he is. The Donald asks, “Why keep doing things the way they’ve always been done?” I get that Trump is thinking outside the box. I admire that about him. But I’m pretty sure MAGA and the rest of his American voters want him to keep his plans within American borders.

“East Palestine before Palestine,” shall we say?

To put your fears at rest, here’s what White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said:

It’s been made very clear to the president that the United States needs to be involved in this rebuilding effort to ensure stability in the region for all people. But that does not mean boots on the ground in Gaza. It does not mean American taxpayers will be funding this effort. It means Donald Trump, who is the best dealmaker on the planet, is going to strike a deal with our partners in a region.

Perhaps he really believes that doing this will cost American taxpayers less in the long run. Perhaps Sheldon Adelson and his widow’s campaign contributions trapped him into it. Or maybe he wants an international legacy.

Some of those reasons are more laudable than others. But what about how the rest of the Arab world feels about this? And what about international law?

The Death of International Law?

To spare you having to read a screed on international law, and to save me from writing it, here are at least five aspects of international law the United States would violate if it acted unilaterally (or even in cahoots with Israel):

1. Unlawful military aggression (UN Charter)
2. The right of Palestinians to self-determination (UN Charter & Geneva Conventions)
3. Forcible displacement (Geneva Conventions & Rome Statute)
4. Destruction of civilian property (Geneva Conventions)
5. Illegal occupation (Hague Regulations)

But there’s going to be no U.S. troops stationed there, right?

And that means the Palestinians, above all, must consent to this. But why would they? Only one reason makes sense: they will be allowed to return.

Ace geopolitical and economic strategist Tom Luongo posted an explanation from Xoaquin Flores, another geopolitical analyst. I hadn’t heard of him until yesterday, but his reasoning makes sense. For shortness’ sake, I post the most germane parts:

What Trump has proposed for the Palestinian people does not fit the definition of ethnic cleansing, and also represents fresh thinking on the subject.

The fake news media is in overdrive. I have to say that it's a shame that the Muslim Brotherhood-Soros Complex has hijacked many layers of the Palestinian cause.

Paying attention to the details of his statements earlier (and to the extent that those statements will have a bearing on his later actual actions), several things become clear.

Palestinians who wish to leave, will be able to leave, and return later after rebuilding has taken place.

The US will undertake, in international law, the responsibility of an occupying power in Palestine (Gaza), which is - regardless of any other fact or overarching scenario - a marked improvement to the IDF.

Gaza will be transformed into a place for the "World's People," but the residents there will be mostly Palestinian, but also, like a beach-front Dubai, a global investment center of capital accumulation that will draw in from around the world and the mostly Arab and Muslim Middle-East as well. This last part is key.

Ethnic cleansing involves the removal of a people, without a right of return, in order to make the place ethnically homogeneous in favor of some other people.

Trump proposes three things contra this: many Palestinians will stay and be involved in the reconstruction. Mostly Palestinians will return to live there when the conditions - reconstruction - are suitable. Other than Palestinians, who will remain a majority, people - investors, real estate, entrepreneurs, etc. will be from 'all over the world,' which runs contra to the definition of leaving an ethnically homogenous people in place.

The dance we are seeing from the Saudis is critical here to understand. Their condemnation of Trump's statement will merely serve as a bargaining chip, and their support for it, as well as other Gulf Monarchies - especially Qatar (and their role in support for Hamas leadership) - to all be able to invest in Gaza - will materialize quite soon.

There is room for conspiracy here too - that is the role of Qatar in urging Hamas to carry out October 7 in order to lead precisely to this scenario, as I have long put forward as a realistic possibility from the beginning of this catastrophe.

If they were on board with that part, they most certainly did so in order to be in on this part - ' Make Gaza Great Again. '

With their pressure/support - Hamas or Palestinian leadership otherwise, will openly support or quietly acquiesce. Ditto with Mahmoud Abbas (and even more easily).

KSA has a lot more to offer the USA than Qatar, and no doubt MBS's dismissal of Trump's statements fits into their broader bargaining strategy to be included robustly in the reconstruction of Gaza.

…

XF

Wishful thinking? Maybe.

But imagine for a moment Flores is correct. Imagine that Trump gets an Arab coalition together, with Saudi Arabia and Qatar heading it, rebuilding the Gaza Strip without any American blood or treasure, just American oversight. And then the Palestinians return to a strip that looks more like Dubai than their former rubbled ruins.

Trump would be hailed as a diplomatic genius and canonized a saint in all the Abrahamic faiths.

The probability of that happening remains low. And yet, it’s worth giving the plan a chance.

Wrap Up

What a crazy news day! Or cycle…

Strap yourself in… we’ve got three years and fifty weeks more of this—the Donfather Part II only just begun.

God help us.