Malaysia’s government has expressed its strong opposition to the forcible resettlement of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, after U.S. President Donald Trump floated an outrageous plan for the U.S. to take over the enclave and turn it into a “Riviera of the Middle East.”
In a statement yesterday, Malaysia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the forced removal of populations from Gaza would “constitute ethnic cleansing and are clear violations of international law and multiple U.N. resolutions.”
“Malaysia strongly opposes any proposal that could lead to the forced displacement or movement of Palestinians from their homeland,” the Ministry said in the statement.
Earlier this week, at a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump proposed the idea of the U.S. taking over the Gaza Strip and developing it into a matrix of high-end housing and coastal resorts.
“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job – whether we’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site, and get rid of the destroyed buildings, level it out,” Trump said. “Create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area, do a real job, do something different.”
However, it seems unclear whether “the people of the area” includes the nearly 2 million Palestinians that currently call Gaza home. In the press conference, Trump called for countries “of interest with humanitarian hearts” to build “various domains” that could “be occupied by the 1.8 million Palestinians living in Gaza” – a suggestion that appears to endorse the territory’s ethnic cleansing. While U.S. officials have backtracked on this – Secretary of State Marco Rubio said yesterday that it is a “realistic reality” to expect the Palestinians of Gaza to “live somewhere else in the interim” – Trump’s comments have prompted a chorus of protest from supporters of the Palestinian cause.
Malaysia has long been among the staunchest members of this group, and has refused to establish diplomatic relations with Israel. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has been harshly critical of Israel since the outbreak of the current war, denouncing it and describing its attacks on Gaza as “the height of barbarism in this world.”
Anwar has also maintained close relations with the militant group Hamas, which touched off the current conflict on October 7, 2023, when it launched deadly incursions into southern Israel. Since the outbreak of the current war, he says he has resisted U.S. pressure to get him to sever his ties with Hamas and moderate his criticisms of Israel, and that Malaysia “maintains its independent position.”
In its statement, the Malaysian Foreign Ministry said that “any attempt, whether direct or indirect, to unilaterally and forcefully impose solutions that disregard the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and infringe on their freedom is unacceptable, unjustifiable, and will only further deepen one of the longest conflicts in the region.”
Instead, it said that the world should unite in “a credible and permanent solution that is acceptable to the Palestinians,” and reiterated its support for diplomatic efforts to establish an independent Palestinian state.
