Tunde Sulaiman 
The Palestinian president has said he strongly rejects President Donald Trump’s proposal for the US to take over Gaza and resettle the 2.1 million Palestinians living there.
“We will not allow the rights of our people… to be infringed on,” Mahmoud Abbas stressed, warning that Gaza was “an integral part of the State of Palestine” and forced displacement would be a serious violation of international law.
Hamas, whose 15-month war with Israel has caused widespread devastation, said Trump’s plan would “put oil on the fire” in the region.
The idea has been rejected by countries in the region such as Jordan and Egypt, and key US allies, while the UN issued a warning against “any form of ethnic cleansing”.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said Gaza was an integral part of a future Palestinian state, telling a meeting in New York the rights of Palestinians to live as human beings in their own land was slipping further out of reach, reports the BBC.
Saudi Arabia said Palestinians would “not move” from their land and it would not normalise ties with Israel without the establishment of a Palestinian state. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Trump’s proposal could “change history” and was “worth paying attention to”.
