Donald Trump’s vision of Gaza as a US-administered Riviera stripped of Palestinians indulges the fantasies of Israel’s extremist right, but also, if taken seriously, builds on an expansionist foreign policy that Trump has articulated since he took on the presidency. The outlook is more akin to mid-19th century US imperial thinking than the era of isolationism his election appeared to herald.
Indeed the one moment Benjamin Netanyahu did not look delighted at Tuesday’s joint press conference was when Trump, negotiating in real time, referred to the US as being opposed to Israeli ownership of Gaza.
