History counts for little when Donald Trump talks about Gaza. The traumas of the past, successive wars, attachment to a place, the long shadow of ancestors, the rights of the living – all this seems buried under rubble.

The real estate billionaire turned politician sees only rubble in the Palestinian territory. He believes the enclave is a "demolition site" that should be "cleaned out" of its population for humanitarian reasons. The Palestinians will be "resettled" elsewhere. "It could be numerous sites or it could be one large site, but the people will be able to live in comfort and peace," ventured the president on Tuesday, February 4, during a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.

Netanyahu seemed both euphoric and nervous next to his unpredictable American ally who was promoting the massive displacement of a population ravaged by 16 months of war. "The US will take over the Gaza Strip," said Trump, envisioning a "long-term ownership" of the enclave, an expression difficult to translate precisely into international law. Like a developer in front of a model home, Trump pledged to transform the "symbol of death and destruction" that is Gaza into the "Riviera of the Middle East." He later declared: "Everybody I've spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land, developing and creating thousands of jobs with something that will be magnificent."

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