Dear Members of the Beth El Family,

I assume that many of you are apprised of President Trump’s proposal for the transfer of Gaza’s two million inhabitants and the redevelopment of Gaza under American supervision. As this announcement arrived as a surprise to all but Trump’s inner circle, I hope to provide some context.

The core idea of Zionism is that nations should be allowed the autonomy to self-govern within their ancestral homeland. To be a Zionist is not to support only the self determination of the Jewish people but all peoples. Therefore, the idea of removing a people from the land they claim their home ought to make us very uncomfortable. The fact that Gaza is currently ravaged by war should not prohibit its inhabitants from living there, should they desire. The alternative is to move dangerously close towards ethnic cleansing.

Of course, our modern predicament stems from the fact that two peoples both claim an ancestral connection to the land between the Jordan river and Mediterranean sea. But while Israel has made no less than eleven proposals to divide and share the land, the Palestinian leadership has not wavered from its demand for sovereignty over all of it.

It bears noting that our president has repeatedly demonstrated a tendency towards staking out extreme positions in order to apply pressure and ultimately negotiate favorable terms. Therefore, from an optimistic perspective, we may hope that this proposal, which undoubtedly exerts pressure upon Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, not to mention Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, might eventually open otherwise unknown opportunities. As rash and unlikely as this proposal may be, it also brings to light certain truths which bear noting:

First, we ought to take stock of the tragedy of Gaza and its inhabitants, who occupy what in another universe might be a highly desired location but have done so little with it. Under first the Palestinian Authority and then Hamas, billions have been spent not on lifting Gazans up but instead tearing Israel down. Were the billions spent on tunnels, weapons smuggling and the fattening of the wallets of despotic dictators directed instead towards schools, infrastructure and the economy, Gaza might look more like Singapore and less like post-war Mosul. No real change in Gaza will come until the people living there demand that Gaza’s construction take priority over Israel’s destruction.

Second, the rinse and repeat cycles of violence between Gaza and Israel cannot be allowed to continue. As Israel’s destruction constitutes Hamas’ reason for existence, without Hamas’ removal, the same cycle will inevitably play out. Flawed as his proposal may be, President Trump is correct to state that the status quo is intolerable. That is, one may agree with the diagnosis without agreeing to Trump’s solution.

Third, by calling out Jordan and Egypt by name, President Trump rightly highlights both countries’ role in the continuing plight of the Palestinian people. Both countries occupied Palestinian territory from 1948 until 1967, whether through Egyptian rule over Gaza or Jordanian rule over the West Bank. Even to this day, Egypt maintains a land border with Gaza and has refused to allow entry to the citizens of Gaza.

It bears noting that modern-day Jordan makes up 70% of British Mandate Palestine and anywhere from one-half to two-thirds of Jordan’s citizens are of Palestinian descent. However, the Jordanian royal leadership keenly remembers the assassination of King Hussein’s grandfather, King Abdullah I in 1951 at the hands of a Palestinian gunman and continues to deny full rights to its Palestinian inhabitants; while Egypt’s leadership is wary of the Palestinian support for the Muslim Brotherhood’s 2011 overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak. All of this is to say that Trump rightly points out that Israel’s Arab neighbors do not deserve the free pass they have historically enjoyed when leaving the Palestinian issue at Israel’s door.

Fourth, the current quagmire calls into question the refugee status of the Palestinian people. If Gaza is their home, from which they ought not be relocated, then why are they refugees? It bears repeating that the Palestinian people enjoy a strange and unique status. In all other historical and current cases, a refugee is defined as an individual displaced from their land. Once they are resettled, their refugee status is resolved and cannot be granted to the next generation. However, third, fourth and even fifth generations of Palestinians continue to be granted such status and will continue to do so in perpetuity.

While all the world’s refugees are overseen by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the Palestinians have their own separate agency (UNRWA), through which refugee status is maintained. Finally, while in all parallel cases, refugees are settled in neighboring countries of the same or similar ethnicity (as the Jews of the middle east were settled in Israel), only the Palestinians maintain a semi-permanent home and yet claim refugee status. And so we may rightly ask, if moving the people of Gaza constitutes ethnic cleansing from their home, then why are they refugees? And if their actual home is in Israel, then why should it matter where they are housed in the meantime? Something does not add up here.

None of these points are meant to justify President Trump’s proposal for the elective or forced expulsion of Gaza’s inhabitants. As Zionists, we ought to defend the rights of all peoples to live in their ancestral lands, even for those peoples who deny us the same. But perhaps this proposal, as problematic as it may be, may break up the logjam that has defined the Israel-Palestinian relationship since 1948. We may call out the deeply problematic nature of President Trump’s proposal while at the same time awaiting opportunities for real change that may develop because of it. Because after the events of October the 7th, 2023, Israel has every right to demand that a genocidal neighbor may no longer be allowed to sit at its doorstep.

As always, I welcome any thoughts or questions, whether over email or a cup of coffee.

With hope for more peaceful days ahead and the return of all remaining hostages to their homes,

Rabbi Jaffe