US and Israel look to Africa for resettling Palestinians uprooted from war-torn Gaza

The US and Israel have reached out to officials of three East African governments to discuss using their territories as potential destinations for resettling Palestinians uprooted from the Gaza Strip under President Donald Trump’s proposed post-war plan, American and Israeli officials say.

The contacts with Sudan, Somalia and the breakaway region of Somalia known as Somaliland reflect the determination by the US and Israel to press ahead with a plan that has been widely condemned and raised serious legal and moral issues. Because all three places are poor, and in some cases wracked by violence, the proposal also casts doubt on Trump’s stated goal of resettling Gaza’s Palestinians in a “beautiful area”.

Officials from Sudan said they have rejected overtures from the US, while officials from Somalia and Somaliland told Associated Press that they were not aware of any contacts.

Under Trump’s plan, Gaza’s more than 2 million people would be permanently sent elsewhere. He has proposed the US would take ownership of the territory, oversee a lengthy clean-up process and develop it as a real estate project.

The idea of a mass transfer of Palestinians was once considered a fantasy of Israel’s ultranationalist fringe. But since Trump presented the idea at a White House meeting last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has hailed it as a “bold vision”.