World leaders react to Trump proposing that the U.S. should “own” the Gaza Strip, “level the site” and develop it, explicitly calling for displacing 2 million Palestinians from their homeland as the region’s leaders struggle to maintain a fragile ceasefire.
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00:00The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too.
00:05We'll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and
00:10other weapons on the site, level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings, level
00:17it out, create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and
00:22housing for the people of the area, do a real job, do something different.
00:29You just can't go back.
00:30If you go back, it's going to end up the same way it has for 100 years.
00:33Last night, many of us were alarmed to hear President Trump speak about forcibly displacing
00:381.8 million people from Gaza.
00:43The Prime Minister has spoken to the President on several occasions now.
00:46Does he personally believe that Trump recognizes the dangers of statements like this to the
00:52fragile ceasefire in Gaza and, indeed, the security of both Palestinians and Israelis?
00:59I'm glad that the Foreign Secretary has confirmed that the government's position is still a
01:04two-state solution.
01:05I think that has support on all sides of the House.
01:08But will he reassure the House that this position and our concerns on these dangerous statements
01:14from the President will be communicated to the White House directly and firmly?
01:18Well, Mr Speaker, you raise a very important issue.
01:22The most important issue on the ceasefire is obviously sustained.
01:25We see it through the phases, and that means that the remaining hostages come out and the
01:30aid that's desperately needed gets into Gaza at speed and at the volumes that are needed.
01:36The image of thousands of Palestinians walking, literally walking through the rubble, to try
01:42to find their homes and their communities in Gaza.
01:46They must be allowed home, they must be allowed to rebuild, and we should be with them in
01:52that rebuild on the way to a two-state solution.
01:56I always adopt the approach when it comes to the US administration of judge them based
02:01on what they do and not what they say.
02:03I think it would be important that the United States would clarify the comments of the President
02:08overnight because the international community has put a huge effort now into bringing about
02:14a ceasefire.
02:15It's been the long-held view of the international community that a two-state solution must be
02:19the landing zone here, and the comments last night were of course very concerning, but
02:25the focus has to be on keeping the ceasefire in place, a fragile ceasefire that has seen
02:30aid finally flowing to the people of Gaza, bombing stopping and hostages released.
02:34I'm not going to, as Australia's Prime Minister, give a daily commentary on statements by the
02:41US President.
02:42My job is to support Australia's position.
02:45Australia's position is the same as it was this morning, as it was last year, and it
02:50was ten years ago, and it was under the Howard government.
02:56The Australian government support, on a bipartisan basis, a two-state solution.
03:02In two days, in a span of few hours, 400,000 Palestinians walking returned to the northern
03:09part of the Gaza Strip.
03:11I think that we should be respecting the selections and the wishes of the Palestinian
03:17people, and the Palestinian people, at the end, will make the determination.
03:23Their determination, they want to clean the destruction in Gaza.
03:27They want to rebuild Gaza.
03:29They want to rebuild the schools, the hospitals, the roads, the infrastructures, and the buildings
03:37and the homes, because this is where they belong and they love to live there.
03:42And I think that, you know, leaders and people should respect the wishes of the Palestinian
03:48people.