Trump’s Gaza gamble: Historical amnesia meets real estate greed

The Nijim family hangs laundry on the ruins of their property amid widespread destruction by Israeli military’s ground and air offensive in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip, Feb. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

President Donald Trump’s proposal to annex Gaza and forcibly relocate its population – transforming the region into a luxury development – is not only impractical, but deeply immoral and built upon a fundamental misunderstanding of both the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the basic principles of justice and human dignity.

His proposal embodies an American tendency to approach geopolitical conflicts with a colonial mindset, viewing entire regions and populations as mere objects for real estate development, rather than acknowledging the lives and histories of the people involved.

The historical ignorance at play here cannot be overstated. Trump‘s plan is predicated on the false assumption that Gaza is somehow unclaimed or up for grabs, a blank slate to be reshaped for luxury development. This is not only a distortion of the reality on the ground but a denial of the deep historical roots of the Palestinian people in the region.

The Nakba, which means “catastrophe” in Arabic, is the foundational event in Palestinian history, the moment when their homes were destroyed, their lands seized and their futures irreparably altered.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not a simple land dispute; it is a deep and enduring struggle for justice, dignity and self-determination. Trump’s plan to annex Gaza completely disregards this history, as well as the ongoing suffering of Palestinians under occupation.

Moreover, this proposal highlights a global, and particularly American, tendency to confuse the Zionist modern state of Israel with the Biblical Israel, perpetuating a dangerous misidentification that shields Israel from accountability for its actions.

There is no continuity, equivalence and identity between the Biblical Israel and the Zionist state of modern Israel. The Biblical land promises and prophecies of return from exile have all been fulfilled in the ancient Biblical times and have nothing to do with the modern Zionist project.

The Catholic Church teaches, as outlined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (877), that the “new Israel” is the Church itself, not the modern state of Israel. This distinction is vital because it separates religious and theological teachings from the political reality of the Zionist project. Equating the two Israels – the Biblical Israel and the modern Zionist state – obscures the truth and complicates the ability to hold the Zionist Israel accountable for its crimes against the Palestinian people.

In this context, we can turn to a powerful parable that illustrates the moral absurdity of Trump’s plan and the broader injustice of the Zionist project. The parable tells the story of a homeowner who is peacefully sleeping one night when a home invader crashes into the house and demands that the homeowner vacate the property.

The invader claims that the house rightfully belongs to his ancestors, who lived there 3,000 years ago. To justify this demand, the invader shows the Bible as proof of ownership – an act that echoes the historical claim made by Zionists regarding the land of Palestine. The homeowner, understandably, resists the invader’s demands, knowing that the home is rightfully his, passed down from his own ancestors.

Now, imagine the police are called to mediate the conflict. Instead of siding with the homeowner, the police – who in this analogy represent the global powers that have supported the Zionist project, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and the United Nations – decide that the home must be divided. The homeowner and the invader are told to share the house, as if the history of the homeowner’s family and the rights they possess over the land mean nothing.

This is exactly what has happened to the Palestinians: their land has been taken from them, and they are expected to accept the unjust division of their homes and their lives.

But the police go even further. In this updated version of the parable, the police, seeing the opportunity to benefit, decide they too should take a portion of the house for themselves. They demand that part of the house be allocated to them in exchange for their role in the forced division.

The police, who were once supposed to mediate and ensure justice, now are complicit in the theft, further entrenching the injustice. This mirrors the role of the United States and its allies, who, rather than seeking a just peace for the Palestinians, have supported Israel’s expansionist policies and occupation, enabling the continued dispossession of the Palestinian people.

This parable, though fictional, captures the essence of the Palestinian experience: they are the homeowner who has been wronged and displaced, while the invader – who in this case is represented by Zionist settlers and the state of Israel – continues to take land that does not belong to them. The police, representing the global powers complicit in this injustice, have not only failed to protect the homeowner but have actively aided in the theft, allowing the invader to claim even more.

The Palestinians are left struggling to reclaim what is rightfully theirs, while the international community either looks the other way or condones the injustice.

The question of Gaza is inextricably linked to this ongoing struggle for justice. Trump’s plan to annex Gaza is not just an absurd real estate proposal; it is the latest iteration of the centuries-long campaign to erase the Palestinian presence from their ancestral land.

This is not a political dispute; it is a moral and human rights issue.

The Catholic Church’s moral guidance, along with the writings of scholars like the Irish Catholic Vincentian priest and Biblical theologian Michael Prior, CM and the Israeli Jewish historians Ilan Pappé and Shlomo Sand, calls on us to recognize the injustice faced by the Palestinian people and to demand an end to the oppression and displacement they continue to endure.

In this light, Trump’s proposal to annex Gaza is not merely a misguided policy; it is a continuation of the historical and ongoing injustice against the Palestinian people.

It is a proposal built on ignorance, rooted in a misunderstanding of history, and driven by a callous disregard for human dignity.

The world must recognize the moral implications of such actions and work toward a just and lasting peace for all people in the region, rooted in respect for the rights and humanity of the Palestinians.

Thaddeus Noel G. Laput is a Catholic philosopher and a hospice chaplain in Los Angeles, California.