President Trump shared a vision of peace in the Mideast that’s jarring for some but that has a rich diplomatic history and makes a great deal of sense: a resort casino in Gaza. Issues with it are actually mostly about the presentation, not the substance. But the presentation is… truly something.
- The horrible AI – bearded men in bikinis dancing, as Trump and Netanyahu lounging at the beach drinking (by the way, Trump does not drink)
- The broader aesthetic – it’s every poor person’s idea of what rich people party like? It is at least the Trump version where the bathroom fixtures are gold plated
- Self-aggrandizement – naming it after Trump? I guess that becomes one way to precommit the U.S. to security guarantees, at least for the current administration.
But the underlying idea is the right one, and hardly a new one – that in genuine peace there is a future of prosperity – and a resort casino was part of the Arafat-Clinton vision for Gaza, in fact.
This was just posted on President Trump’s Truth Social account. pic.twitter.com/9zrVcBGjK1
— Yashar Ali (@yashar) February 26, 2025
It’s unclear how we get there even if Hamas were to abdicate. There hasn’t even been a Palestinian Authority election since January 2006. Abbas is afraid Hamas would win if there was one!
But in 2000 Arafat was offered a state that included 95% of desired land. He could not accept because he’d have been assassinated. Hamas does not want a negotiated peace, and there won’t be prosperity for Palestinians until they care more about their own futures that shoving Jews into the River and the Sea.
Still, it didn’t always seem hopeless. The 1995 Oslo II Accord included international funding for Yasser Arafat International Airport in the Gaza Strip. Saudi Arabia and the Netherlands donated a Boeing 727 and 2 Fokker 50s to help launch Palestinian Airlines.
Palestinian Airlines Fokker 50, credit: Bram Steeman via Wikimedia Commons
The new Gaza airport opened in 1998, and Bill and Hillary Clinton attended the official grand opening. At the time there were plans for a port and for a casino!
In Nov 1998, the Clintons and the Arafats, American and Palestinian first couples, inaugurated the Gaza International Airport. Gaza also had a port and a casino planned. Hamas never accepted peace with #Israel. To sabotage it, Hamas launched dozens of suicide bombings between… pic.twitter.com/g84NYHUoeB
— Hussain Abdul-Hussain (@hahussain) October 13, 2023
In 2000 Arafat turned down a deal for a Palestinian state. Hamas sabotaged peace, launching scores of suicide bombings. To defend itself from attacks and limit the ability of Hamas to supply itself with weapons, they destroyed the Gaza airport’s control and radio towers in 2001 and bulldozed its runway in 2002 in response to the Second Intifada and killing of Israeli soldiers.
Yet Palestinian Airlines did not shut down! They moved to El Arish International Airport 29 miles away in Egypt. But Egypt took a full day to process Palestinians crossing the border.
Eventually the airline shut down in 2005, though they briefly restarted service again in 2012 before leasing their aircraft to Niger Airlines. Without planes, people were still employed by the airline for nine more years.
Hamas does not want a compromise with a peaceful two state solution and they’ve blocked one for decades. They have caused an entire generation of Palestinian suffering, trading it for the hope of destruction of Jews.
That’s also let Israeli politicians play to voter fears and ‘taken them off the hook’ from pursuing a peace that seemed impossible. We haven’t seen Israeli leaders who pressed for peace since Yitzhak Rabin (who was assassinated for his peace efforts), Shimon Peres and Ehud Barak.
President Clinton, who nearly achieved Mideast peace, relays in My Life that Arafat once told him “You are a great man” and Clinton replied, “I am not a great man. I am a failure, and you made me one.”
Palestinians would have been better off with the UN partition plan in 1947 that Arab states rejected; with a state that was offered 20 years later; with the Clinton plan in 2000; and with Ehud Olmert’s plan which offered 94% of the West Bank, with pre-1967 buffer zones split in half and a land swap of the balance from pre-1967 borders. While Israel would exit small settlements in these areas, their own politics would not allow them to exit Gush Etzion, Ma’ale Adumim and Ariel hence the need for land swap, giving up land near Afula-Tirat Tzvi, Lachish, Har Adar, Judean desert.
The Ehud Olmert offer, developed with the Palestinian Authority over two years, included ceding sovereignty over the holy basin in Jerusalem which includes sites of importance to Muslims, Christians and Jews – to be jointly administered by a group of nations including the Palestinian state. And they offered an international fund for Palestinians. Palestine would have been precluded from entering into a military agreement with a government that does not recognize Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin was assassinated for offering much less. Yet Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas rejected the deal. Hamas attacked Israel. (Abbas later claimed he wouldn’t initial the deal because Olmert was a lame duck – but that ex post justification made no sense when it was a deal that was years in the making, and when a politician with little to lose may have been the one most immune to opposition on Israel’s Right.)
The future that’s been on the table for Palestinians for many decades has been sovereignty and prosperity. Israel’s fourth Prime Minister Golda Meir said, “Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us.” When it does, it will leverage the assets of the people and the place. A resort casino… actually does make sense there, but only after security can be guaranteed (or no one will come).
Gary, I respect your attempt at a nuanced take, but let’s get real: it’s all just needless suffering.
“An eye for an eye until everyone is blind”, one can go back and back and back in history and the cycle doesn’t end. Maybe what Americans don’t understand is that people in this part of the world don’t forget or forgive. In Afghanistan before things fell apart I was looking at a road in Kabul and my local friend said, “Alexander the Great came this way. We beat him!” I am not going to take a stand and who is right or wrong–there is plenty to be said on both sides, but I will say that the idea of “destroying Hamas” was never possible. It would be like the “war on drugs” without changing the demand for them. Someone else will simply be the supplier. The current policies will never change things. Put 2 million people in a vast cage and it is not surprising that some will act like animals.
Insanity. I feel as if I’m watching a Kim Jong Un promotional video.
@drrichard — Well said. I respect your comments and perspectives on here. And thank you for what you were doing in ‘that’ part of the world when you were there. I know that must have been difficult. And we should have gotten out more of those who helped us–too many were left behind.
Israel is an anachronism. No people deserve their own state, no matter how much more special they think they are than everyone else. The only reason the country is still around is because of decades of espionage against their ostensible allies the US to keep us bankrolling their genocide and apartheid
Sorry Gary. True, Hamas doesn’t want to compromise and are terrorists but Israel doesn’t want to compromise either. You say Arafat was offered 95% of land. Why doesn’t Israel give up all of the West Bank and Gaza and add 5%???? After all, the 1948 borders gave Arabs the West Bank, Gaza, and some additional land.
As far as Trump’s silly plan, it could work for the Arabs. Move 1 million people out of Gaza to allow reconstructing but don’t move them to Jordan. Move them to Israel. That would be an incentive to be a temporary move.
@derek – the Palestinians rejected the 1948 offer, and 77 years have happened since then. Israel isn’t going to just walk away from major towns where its people live, so they offered 95% of the land and said for this land where we can’t walk away from our people, we’ll give you offsetting land instead.
1990 thanks but I wasn’t clear enough. It was in the ’70s and I was going overland from France to Nepal, making lots of stops and side trips within various countries from Turkey to India to see that amazing part of the world. The experience did teach me that an invasion of Afghanistan was impossible as the people would fight forever and the countryside was simply too rough. The British and Soviets learned that the hard way. When the U.S. did go in I said, “This might work if we get out fast and follow up with rebuilding,” and even volunteered to return. But nobody seemed interested in such a viewpoint. The only surprise was how long it took for the end to come.
@drrichard — Well, thank you, nevertheless, for being a decent representative of us over there. So, you were indeed one of the lucky ones to enjoy that so-called ‘Hippie Trail’ back-in-the-day. I’ve found inspiration in Rick Steves’ recent book on his respective journey–seems to have been a formative experience for him as well.
On that region, who knows, moving forward, maybe the Chinese will give Afghanistan a try soon–they’re certainly doing that ‘Belt and Road’ project through the Stans. Wouldn’t that be something, if they actually ‘rebuilt’ the place–though, their method seems to care much less about human rights, and much more about simply ‘development’ and control via debt-finance. Hmm.
A casino for Gaza would not have worked with Clinton, It will not work with Trump. A terrible idea is a terrible idea; does not matter if it came from Clinton or from Trump. Stop trying to justify terrible ideas just because someone of both political parties have talked about it.
How dare you point out the repeated REJECTION of a Muslim states in the Jewish homeland. This goes against everything the democratic party tells it followers about the colonization, systematic apartheid, and 70 + years of suffering the evil Jews have inflicted on the poor peaceful people of plaeistine
Unlikely to go anywhere, but Trump’s doing a great job resetting the “frame” and exposing the fraud that amalgamation of Jordanian, Lebanese, Syrian and Egyptian “Palestinians” and their leaders have foisted on the world with the help of the corrupt UN and leftist European/American media for so long. Jews have been essentially driven from every Arab country that once had thriving communities, yet there is a thriving, patriotic Arab citizenry in a democratic Israel. Doesn’t that say it all? Let rationale thought prevail– It’s time to end absurd, inherited refugee status and end Western sympaty to the Jihadist mentality. Either the “Palestinians” end their death cult ways, create a decent society for themselves and demonstrate they can live next to their neighbors peacefully or they should be relocated to effectively governed Arab states that have learned to peacefully with their neighbors.
The fact that is Israel left Gaza in 2005 – Pulled out established Israeli communities, uprooted families and gave the “Palestinians” greenhouses, fields and infrstructure – The “Palestinians” then destroyed everything they were given – Billions of dollars have been given to Gaza – Instead of building and developing infrastructure and supporting their own people, they dug tunnels, bought arms and alligned themself with the Axis of Resitance – A Terrorist financing, Colonialist apparatus that wants to see Islam conquer the world – Nobody wants to help the “Palestinians because they refuse to help themselves – There are NO innocent “Palestinians” – Even in Nazi Germany there were civilians that assisted the persecuted Jews – In Gaza, the civilians hold the hostages – Gaza was Egyptian Controlled, Judea and Samaria were Jordanian Controlled, but again, they do not want to help support the “Palestinians” because they fear them
Re-education has to occur so that residents of Gaza are not taught hatred and extremist beliefs from birth – Trumps plan? At least it has people talking – I for one would love to see us exit Qatar, get out form under their thumb and build a huge military base in Gaza
To Gary and Jojo and others: What shameful apologists you are for Israel.
Israeli leaders need to take a long look at the mirror. They need to admit their continued land grabs/”settlements” which are akin to foreign invasions/occupations of land to which they have zero right and their self-centered perspective is the source of this human rights outrage. SAD!
@Gregg – “They need to admit their continued land grabs/”settlements” which are akin to foreign invasions/occupations of land to which they have zero right ”
Let’s talk about Israel capturing land in war when they’ve been invaded. In response to Mexican incursions into U.S. territory, the U.S. captured what later became the American Southwest (California, Arizona, New Mexico, etc.). Are you suggesting we give it back? Or what about the Northern Mariana Islands, which were taken from Japan following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor?
@GREGG
this will come as a surprise to you. but in 2005 Israel removed all jewish settlements from gaza and gave the gaza fully functioning communities. what happened to all these jewish settlement? hamas turned them to rubble and used the water pipes for rocket launchers.
may your family never be kidnapped your 9mo baby and 3year killed. your wife raped and beaten and you held for over 500 days starved and beaten only to find out your family was killed. the Bibas family and those who lived in the settlements next to gaza were hippies who wanted to live in peace with gaza, just like those sluaghtered at the music festival. this is hama this is those who cheer the bodies of dead babies. this is you GREGG.