A Jesuit priest and Israeli scholar has strongly condemned U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal for the reconstruction of Gaza, describing it as “a kick in the stomach.”
“And I am not even a Palestinian. I am an Israeli,” Father David Neuhaus said in an interview with Vatican’s Fides News Agency.
Neuhaus, a former Patriarchal Vicar for Hebrew-speaking Catholics and for the Pastoral Among Migrants, denounced the plan as part of an ongoing pattern of Palestinian displacement.
“Trump’s boldly proclaimed plan is to transform the Gaza Strip from the heaps of rubble left by Israel’s military campaign into a luxurious riviera,” he said.
The priest said Trump’s plan has “no place for the people who call Gaza home,” adding, “This is yet another stage in the removal of Palestinians from Palestine.”
He referenced historical events, noting that the displacement of Palestinians has been an ongoing process.
He highlighted how, in 1947 and 1948, the population of Gaza dramatically increased as many Palestinians were forced from their homes inside Israel, leading to Gaza becoming one of the most densely populated areas in the world.
“Mr. Trump spoke only about Gaza but Mr. Netanyahu’s administration has already begun to work on the West Bank, sowing Gaza-like destruction in the cities of Jenin and Tulkarm. Thousands of Palestinians have already been expelled from their homes,” the priest said.
Speaking aboard Air Force One en route to New Orleans for the Super Bowl, Trump described Gaza as “a large real estate site” that the United States would oversee and develop “slowly, very slowly” to bring “stability to the Middle East.”
While Trump’s vision has drawn criticism, some leaders have adopted a more reserved stance. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented, “For now we do not know the details, so we must be patient.”
Neuhaus also highlighted Jewish voices advocating for a different approach, referencing journalist Peter Beinhart’s book, Being Jewish after the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning.
“Beinhart reconstructs Jewish identity in the light of what has been happening in the past months, adamantly insisting that Israel’s only way forward is to ensure equality for all its citizens,” he said.
Israeli activist Orly Noy, who chairs the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, B’Tselem, has spoken out on the issue.
She emphasized that the war will only end when Israeli society recognizes that lasting security cannot be achieved through the oppression and subjugation of other people, who deserve the same rights and freedoms.
