Relocating Gazans to Egypt

Over the past few days, US President Trump has repeatedly insisted that some or all of the citizens of Gaza must be relocated to other Arab states.

At first glance, this demand might seem unreasonable or absurd – but it actually has a surprising degree of historical precedent and, had history played out differently, may have allowed the world to avoid the situation which exists today.

The maps below illustrate this point in simple terms (and my apologies to those who prefer a more detailed accounting of history):

▶️In 1917 the British issued the ‘Balfour Declaration’ indicating their support for a Jewish homeland. Map 1 shows the originally proposed boundaries of this.

▶️In 1922, Britain was granted a ‘mandate’ to control a significant portion of Middle East territory which had formally been part of the Ottoman Empire (which was defeated in WW1) – however, as a result of strong Arab lobbying, the land originally proposed for a Jewish state was reduced by 77% (Map 2) in order to create a Palestinian protectorate known as ‘TransJordan’ (which later became ‘Jordan’). Despite this, the Arab nations still continued to oppose the establishment of a Jewish state.

▶️In 1947, following the atrocities of the Holocaust, the newly formed United Nations voted to establish a Jewish State. However, the surrounding Arab nations attacked Israel when it formally declared independence in 1948 – telling Arabs to flee to the borders until the Israelis were defeated.

▶️Israel won that war and the Arabs who fled (about 80% of them) became the ‘refugees’ in Gaza and the West Bank. These territories then came under the control of Jordan and Egypt (Map 3) – neither of which chose to either assimilate them or create a ‘Palestinian’ state for them.

▶️In 1967, Israel won the 6 Day War, in which they secured their ancient Capital of Jerusalem, took possession of the Sinai Peninsula and became responsible for Gaza and the West Bank. Sinai was subsequently returned to the Egyptians as part of a peace deal in 1982 – but neither Egypt, nor Jordan, have expressed any appetite to reclaim Gaza or the West Bank – a situation which continues to this day.

As such – a simple solution would be to simply re-absorb Gaza back into Egypt. No relocation would be necessary and the Gazans would suddenly have free access to live anywhere in a nation many times larger than Israel, and which shares the same religion.

Or, they could be absorbed into Jordan – a nation which was established to provide a Palestinian homeland over one hundred years ago – the original ‘two state solution’ (a fact which is conveniently ignored by those who use that term today).

Either way – Trump is right. The Palestinians are the responsibility of the Arab nations of the Middle East. Perhaps, for once, we can learn from history?

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