Its a safe bet that much of what President Donald Trump described in two press availabilities at the White House alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, as well as a follow-up social media post, is not going to happen. The US almost certainly will not take a long-term ownership position in the Gaza Strip, resettle its 1.8 million people in a beautiful area in a neighboring country so enticing that they wont want to return, or redevelop the strip as the riviera of the Middle East.Top officials including White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have already walked back much of the proposal, saying that the relocation of Palestinians would only be temporary while Gaza is rebuilt and that Americans would not foot the bill. And while Trump has been musing about this for weeks now and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has been talking about it for months no one in his administration actually appears to be working to implement it. The White House National Security Council declined to comment, referring Vox to Trumps statements and social media posts on the topic.The trope from Trumps first term that the presidents statements should be taken seriously but not literally is probably the best way to think about his proposals for the future of Gaza.In the region, the statement was not taken as just a flight of fancy. Defense Minister Israel Katz quickly instructed the Israeli military to draft a plan to allow voluntary departure of Gazas residents. Neighboring Egypt, one of the countries Trump suggested could provide new land for Gazans, said its peace treaty with Israel was at risk if the plan were seriously pursued. For Palestinians, the idea of removing them from their land is a reminder of some of the darkest moments of their history. Calling this idea a plan might be generous, but its clear that Trumps words matter not just because they indicate the approach his administration might take to Israel-Palestinian issues, but because of the impact they could have on the ground, in Gaza and beyond. Israel and Hamas are currently in phase one of their ceasefire. Fighting has halted, and Israeli hostages are being regularly exchanged for Palestinian prisoners. In three weeks, they are supposed to transition to phase two, a permanent end to the conflict. The future of Gaza governance and rebuilding will be taken up in phase three. The terms of the next two phases have yet to be agreed, so its very much an open question whether the ceasefire will last. Trumps Middle East peace envoy Steve Witkoff has been in the region making a push for a permanent ceasefire as well as reaching a landmark normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Witkoff, a real estate developer with virtually no diplomatic experience, had garnered some praise for his efforts from longtime peace process observers, and his willingness to pressure Netanyahu to make concessions appears to have played a significant role in securing the ceasefire before Trump took office.But all that has been overshadowed by Trumps riviera remarks.The ceasefire is sort of dead in the water at this point, said Tahani Mustafa, senior Palestine analyst for the International Crisis Group. Any even cautious optimism we had, this just signals the absolute death of it because it completely undermines the most critical phase, which is phase three, reconstruction.The presumption of everyone involved in the negotiations was that the third phase would consist of reconstruction for the people of Gaza, not luxury property for the worlds people, as Trump put it.Aaron David Miller, a Mideast peace negotiator for several US administrations now with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the remarks took away any leverage Witkoff might have had to pressure the Israelis and basically made Benjamin Netanyahu one of the happiest humans on the planet. Its not only Netanyahu. Trumps statements created ecstasy among Israelis, and not just the right, said Shira Efron, a Tel Aviv-based analyst for Israel Policy Forum, on a panel this week. Polls show a majority of Israelis support Trumps plan and even Netanyahu rivals like former Defense Minister Benny Gantz and opposition leader Yair Lapid offered qualified praise for what, if taken literally, amounts to a call for ethnic cleansing. The strongest praise came from leaders of Israels far right, some of whom have long advocated expelling Gazas civilian population and replacing them with Israeli settlers. One of those is far-right former National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who left the Cabinet in January over objections to the ceasefire and said he would consider returning if Netanyahu pursued Trumps plan. [Trumps] is a much more of a maximalist position that any of Netanyahus Coalition partners could have imagined, Efron said. Thats a welcome gift for a prime minister who has been struggling to hold together a right-wing coalition government divided by the ceasefire and other issues. (The praise wasnt universal: Israels military intelligence reportedly warned that the plan could provoke violence, earning a reprimand from the defense minister.)Its worth noting that despite the ecstasy on the Jewish far right, Trumps statement was not actually an endorsement of their vision. In fact, when specifically asked if he supported building Jewish settlements in Gaza, he dismissed the idea, saying, Nobody can go there, its too dangerous. Nobody wants to be there. (Trumps former ambassador to Israel David Friedman told the New York Times there would be a market-drive process for deciding who would eventually get to live along 25 miles of sunset-facing beachfront.)Thats unlikely to mollify Palestinians. Hes given Hamas a tremendous propaganda advantage now, because what hes said will be interpreted in the minds the Palestinians as another nakba, as the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people, Miller said. (Hamas called Trumps proposal ridiculous and absurd.) The statement could have ramifications beyond Gaza as well. Trumps win had already excited Israeli advocates for annexation of the West Bank either in part or in whole. And even before his election, 2024 saw record violence by settlers against Palestinians on the West Bank, as well as some of the largest seizures of land by the Israeli government. One of Trumps first actions as president was to lift sanctions the Biden administration imposed on settlers who have committed acts of violence. Theres little evidence that Trump shares the emotional enthusiasm from the settlement project evinced by some of his top officials, and he held off on giving his blessing for West Bank annexation during his first term. Still, the recent comments suggest he views Palestinians living on their own territory as an inconvenience to be negotiated away. A region united in oppositionTrumps proposal to just clean out Gaza, and Defense Minister Katzs instructions to the Israel Defense Forces, bring to mind a controversial plan reportedly considered by Netanyahu last fall. The so-called generals plan involved completely sealing off northern Gaza, including food aid, relocating all its civilian residents, and treating anyone who remained as a legitimate military target. For all that Trump and Katz can speak of a voluntary departure, such violent methods would probably be needed to carry this idea. A majority of Gazans would likely not want to permanently leave their homes or would not trust that their relocation would be temporary. Hamas still de facto governs much of Gaza and would have no incentive to go along with this scheme. Other Arab governments, who Trump suggested could take in the people of Gaza, were quick to reject the plan. Trump seems to think they can be convinced, citing Canada and Mexicos agreement to beef up border security to avoid tariffs as precedent. But convincing a country like Jordan to take in a massive new refugee population is a far different proposition than talking Justin Trudeau into appointing a fentanyl czar.Whatever economic threats come their way do not stand up to the existential threat that a mass transfer of Palestinians into the country would cause, Marwan Muasher, former Jordanian foreign minister and former Jordanian ambassador to Israel, told Vox. The statement may also have put Trump and Netanyahus long-sought goal of normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia further out of reach. The Saudi government swiftly put out a statement rejecting Trumps suggestion that it would be willing to recognize Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state. Though Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman has made clear hes still interested in normalization, it seems unlikely hed risk signing onto a plan perceived by the region as a new Nakba.The Arab world is not always unified on a number of issues, Muasher said. I think the presidents statements have unified the Arab position in a way I have not seen before.The most generous reading of Trumps statement is that this was the idea. National security adviser Mike Waltz suggested that it would bring the entire region to come with their own solutions. For the moment, it seems to be having the opposite effect. The regions various actors are digging into their positions, while the people of Gaza continue to suffer and Hamass presence persists. See More: