Quotes
The talk about what the president wants to do with Gaza, obviously we’re completely opposed to the idea of the transfer of Palestinians from anywhere in Historic Palestine,
Bahbah said
We believe that his ideas, as well intentioned as they might be, rubbed a lot of people the wrong way,
Bishara Bahbah, who founded Arab Americans for Trump and helped rally support for him in Michigan and other battleground states, told Reuters
I don't regret anything I did to get Trump elected and I hope we see positive signs in the future,
said Basha, an early advocate for Trump in Michigan
Conflating Trump's rhetoric with the actions of Biden and Harris is not only disingenuous but outright dishonest,
he said, criticizing the Biden administration's supply of weapons and other support for Israel while it bombed GazaInstead of helping people to recover, he's trying to take advantage of their of their misery,
he told ReutersWe know there is a lot of trauma with the Palestinian side when it comes to displacement. However, again, it’s too early to talk about this, because we don’t know how this war will end,
Majed al-Ansari said
The key question is whether Saudi Arabia will condition its deal with the US and normalisation with Israel to abandoning this plan, not just saying they support Palestinians’ right to self-determination,
Menachem Klein, professor of political science at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, told Al Jazeera
I think you’ll see in the coming weeks – when Trump starts climbing down the tree, when things sober up – he’ll tell the Saudis ‘you need to come forward and stop making conditions about the Palestinian state’,
added BisharaThe establishment of the Palestinian state is a firm, unwavering position,
the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a lengthy statement on X on WednesdayHis Majesty King Abdullah II stresses the need to put a stop to [Israeli] settlement expansion, expressing rejection of any attempts to annex land and displace the Palestinians.”
Jordan’s royal court said in a statementThere is no country that will have greater say in what goes on in Israel and Palestine moving forward than Saudi Arabia. And there is no country that Israel wants to normalise relations with more than Saudi Arabia,
he saidThe calculus would be, ‘OK, you don’t want me to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians, you don’t want me to send American forces to kick them out and take over that piece of land? OK, I won’t do these things, but what are you going to give me in return?
he saidThe U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too,
Trump said at the White House
You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say, 'You know, it’s over,'
he said at the timeLevel the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings, level it out, create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area,
he saidWe categorically reject the whole notion of displacing or removing or transferring the Palestinians in Gaza. There is no place for Palestinians to go,
Bahbah said
He won, so we needed movement on the momentum on what we have done, and we finally decided to change the name to Arab Americans for Peace,
Bahbah said.jpg)
The president has made it clear they need to be temporarily relocated out of Gaza for the rebuilding of this effort,
Leavitt saidSome Arab countries, including the United Arab Emirates, are increasingly restricting the US from using military facilities on their soil to launch retaliatory air strikes on Iranian proxies.”
Europe-based Politico reported
We appreciate the president's offer to clean and rebuild Gaza. However, the purpose should be to make Gaza habitable for Palestinians and no one else,
the group said