by Steven Richards
U.S. reconstruction of Gaza and a restoration of maximum pressure on Iran are the pillars of President Trump’s Middle East strategy to achieve a lasting peace.
After less than a month in office, President Donald Trump has brought "shock & awe" back to the Middle East—this time with policy and rhetoric instead of with planes and missiles—in hopes to achieve a lasting peace for the region.
In a flurry of actions and statements this week, the Trump administration implemented several major shifts in U.S. policy towards the Middle East, where conflict has been ongoing since the terrorist group Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The president’s plan is twofold: to create a lasting peace between Israel and its Palestinian neighbors and pressure Iran to give up its aspiration for a nuclear weapon and eliminate its ability to fund terrorist proxy groups.
In a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, Trump laid out the most provocative and bold component of his policy: the “U.S. will take over the Gaza strip, and we’ll do a job with it too. We’ll own it.”
The president proposed that the U.S. would take on the role of clearing out the rubble and unexploded munitions and facilitating the reconstruction process.
“Gaza is a hellhole right now … The only reason the Palestinians want to go back to Gaza is because they have no alternative … They instead can occupy all of a beautiful area with homes and safety and they can live out their lives in peace and harmony,” the president explained. “If it’s necessary, we’ll do that [send in troops]. We’re gonna take over that piece and we’re gonna develop it, create thousands and thousands of jobs.”
The proposal seemed to catch Washington by surprise and the reactions were mixed on both sides of the aisle.
But, experts say this new, bold proposal very much aligns with Trump’s overarching desire to finish the work of his signature Abraham Accords and achieve a lasting framework for the region that will bring a more permanent peace, ending the conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors.
“Trump's number one goal is to have peace and prosperity in the Middle East,” Dr. Rebecca Grant, a national security analyst and the Vice President of the Lexington Institute, told the Just the News, No Noise TV show on Wednesday.
“I think there are a lot of things going on here. Probably the number one issue is that he wants to put some American capital down and use that to help others in the region, he described them as the nations of great wealth—Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan—to try to get a focus for the redevelopment and reconstruction of Gaza,” she continued.
Grant also said the bold rhetoric may serve another purpose, to keep Hamas engaged with the ceasefire and encourage Arab powers in the region to resume the normalization processes with Israel, which began under his first administration with the Abraham Accords that brought peace between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan.
“I think that's a medium term game, short term—remember, there's another phase of the ceasefire deal to be negotiated starting next week. He wants to make sure Hamas knows America is still very interested in what's going on in Gaza,” Grant said.
She continued, ”And big picture, he wants to see the Abraham Accords with more countries signing on, and particularly that Saudi and Israel deal. Lot of moving pieces here, but you've got to agree with them having Hamas in charge of Gaza, they had their chance, and it just did not work.”
President Trump doubled down on proposals for U.S. involvement in Gaza reconstruction on Thursday, but walked back a suggestion that American troops could be employed to secure the territory.
“The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting. The Palestinians, people like Chuck Schumer, would have already been resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region. They would actually have a chance to be happy, safe, and free,” Trump posted to his Truth Social platform on Thursday.
“The U.S., working with great development teams from all over the World, would slowly and carefully begin the construction of what would become one of the greatest and most spectacular developments of its kind on Earth. No soldiers by the U.S. would be needed! Stability for the region would reign!!!” Trump said.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also clarified in a press briefing on Wednesday, stressing the president has “not committed” to sending American troops to Gaza.
"The Riviera of the Middle East"
So far, it is unclear whether relocating the Palestinians living in Gaza while a reconstruction takes place is feasible. Trump suggested that neighboring Arab countries, like Jordan and Egypt, could take in the nearly two million civilians. But, both countries as well as Saudi Arabia rejected Trump’s proposal.
Regardless, Trump’s vision for the 141 square mile territory is sweeping, and bold, in light of decades of failed negotiated settlements between Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
“I envision world people living there. The world’s people. I think you’ll make that into an international, unbelievable place … The Riviera of the Middle East,” he said at the press conference.
In Trump’s eyes, the other obstacle to a broader regional peace is the Islamic Republic of Iran, which has continued its pursuit of a nuclear weapons program and funded regional proxy groups that attack both Israel and U.S. assets.
Maximum pressure
On the same day of the Gaza announcement, President Trump signed an executive order directing the U.S. government to return to his first term policy of “maximum pressure” against the Iranian regime to hamper its nuclear program, starve it of oil revenues, and disrupt funding to its proxy network. These measures may have an even greater impact on the country this time, which finds itself in a weaker position after the fall of a friendly government in Syria and the decimation of its proxy group Hezbollah by Israel.
“I want Iran to be peaceful and successful. I hated doing it. I did it once before. And we brought them down to a level where they were unable to give any money,” Trump said of the new sanctions. “They had to survive themselves. And they had no money. They were essentially broke.”
The Biden administration had previously reversed several sanctions against Iran that were imposed during Trump’s first term, which reportedly allowed an estimated $70 billion to flow into the regime coffers. For example, in one of his first acts after the inauguration, President Biden rescinded U.N. sanctions on the country that were imposed by Trump after he withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal. The administration was also accused of lax enforcement of oil sanctions, allowing Iran to collect significant revenues that funded its proxy network.
Most of the conflicts in the Middle East in recent years can be tied directly to Iran’s proxy groups. The Islamic Republic funded the Palestinian terror group Hamas and Lebanon-based Hezbollah which both fought wars with Israel. The Yemen-based Houthis have also fired missiles at commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea, snarling international shipping lanes.
The new Trump order is designed to cut the regime’s access to these varied sources of funds, undermining the Iranian government’s ability to fund malign activities directly or through its proxies. The Treasury Department on Thursday moved forward with executing on the order, implementing new sanctions targeting Iran’s oil industry and lucrative exports to China.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent argues that the revenue from these trades allow the regime to fund its destabilizing nuclear program.
In the press conference, Trump reiterated that he hopes to make a deal with Iran, but says that the nuclear program is a significant obstacle to peace.
The president said, “I really want to see peace. And I hope that we're able to do that. They cannot have a nuclear weapon. It's very simple. I'm not putting restrictions. I'm not - they cannot have one thing. They cannot have a nuclear weapon. And if I think that they will have a nuclear weapon, despite what I just said, I think that's going to be very unfortunate for them.”
Steven Richards
Source: https://justthenews.com/world/middle-east/shock-awe-trump-floats-bold-plans-reshape-middle-east
No comments:
Post a Comment