The Overthinker's Journal

Despite the attempts by administration officials to walk it back, Donald Trump seems insistent that he has the Perfect Concepts of a Plan for the Gaza Strip.

Tuesday, during a visit with the King of Jordan, Trump once again stated his intentions:

“We’re going to take it. We’re going to hold it. We’re going to cherish it.”

This follows the Super Bowl interview with Bret Baier on Fox News, where he stated:

“We’ll build safe communities, a little bit away from where they are, where all of this danger is. In the meantime, I would own this. Think of it as a real estate development for the future. It would be a beautiful piece of land. No big money spent.”

So the plan is to remove Gaza’s residents and take their land? That sounds familiar… Where have I heard that? Oh yeah! We all remember who Donald Trump’s favorite president was, right?

It worked so well for Andrew Jackson with the Cherokee, why not try it on a global scale?

So, much like his idol, Trump has a plan to move all the people off the land and take it over. In fact, I think his plan goes something like this:

1. Magically convince millions of people in Gaza to abandon their homes without any resistance and resettle them… somewhere. Egypt and Jordan kinda look like Oklahoma, maybe.
2. Declare the Gaza Strip part of America. Sorta like the Jersey Shore.
3. Build a casino resort, maybe throw in a Trump Tower.
4. Pretend the displaced Palestinians are thrilled about it.
5. Hope that The Hague is looking the other way, or at least can be bribed with some comps from the casino.

You see, there’s this one teeny-tiny problem with this plan. To forcibly resettle an entire population is not just a horrible idea. This is so bad that even during war, where death and destruction are common outcomes, this is still considered worse.

We’re talking International Tribunal bad. These are war crimes. To quote from Rule 129 of the International Humanitarian Law:

A. Parties to an international armed conflict may not deport or forcibly transfer the civilian population of an occupied territory, in whole or in part, unless the security of the civilians involved or imperative military reasons so demand.

B. Parties to a non-international armed conflict may not order the displacement of the civilian population, in whole or in part, for reasons related to the conflict, unless the security of the civilians involved or imperative military reasons so demand.

So, even if Trump doesn’t send American soldiers to be involved in the resettlement, that pesky part B is going to bite him in the butt.

Also, I’d like to point out that while committing a war crime is a horrible idea, announcing the plan for one on live TV is not much smarter.

Perhaps we should expect better of our leader than this? Then again, I didn’t think “don’t commit war crimes” was a bar our President would have to strive for.