Patrick Kingsley

There are plenty of longer-term options that have been suggested by governments, analysts, politicians, diplomats, Arabs, Israelis, Westerners. None of them are particularly viable because they all require a degree of compromise from the two main actors. Perhaps the most dramatic and consequential has been the one proposed in recent weeks by President Trump himself.

There are plenty of longer-term options that have been suggested by governments, analysts, politicians, diplomats, Arabs, Israelis, Westerners. None of them are particularly viable because they all require a degree of compromise from the two main actors. Perhaps the most dramatic and consequential has been the one proposed in recent weeks by President Trump himself.

Well, let's just start with what the plan actually was.

Well, let's just start with what the plan actually was.

This was a proposal put forth by President Trump in the White House in a seemingly impromptu way as he stood at a lectern beside... the Israeli prime minister a few weeks ago.

This was a proposal put forth by President Trump in the White House in a seemingly impromptu way as he stood at a lectern beside... the Israeli prime minister a few weeks ago.

And in this proposal, President Trump suggested depopulating Gaza... Because they're living in hell.

And in this proposal, President Trump suggested depopulating Gaza... Because they're living in hell.

Essentially forcing its two million residents to leave their homes and live for years in mainly Egypt and also Jordan.

Essentially forcing its two million residents to leave their homes and live for years in mainly Egypt and also Jordan.

And this was such an outlandish proposal that no one really knew what to do with it. Did the president of the United States really think it would be possible to move two million people from one part of the world to another?

And this was such an outlandish proposal that no one really knew what to do with it. Did the president of the United States really think it would be possible to move two million people from one part of the world to another?

In Israel, there's been a mixture of enthusiasm and caution. Enthusiasm from the Israeli right for years The Israeli right wing has wanted Israel to return to Gaza, which it occupied wholly between 1967 and 2005, and reestablish Israeli settlements throughout the territory.

In Israel, there's been a mixture of enthusiasm and caution. Enthusiasm from the Israeli right for years The Israeli right wing has wanted Israel to return to Gaza, which it occupied wholly between 1967 and 2005, and reestablish Israeli settlements throughout the territory.

Then there's the Israeli center that's more cautious, that sees this as a pie-in-the-sky kind of plan that could cause more disruption than it's worth.

Then there's the Israeli center that's more cautious, that sees this as a pie-in-the-sky kind of plan that could cause more disruption than it's worth.

And then from the Palestinians, you have a feeling of abject horror that 75 years after hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced to leave their homes or fled their homes during the wars surrounding Israel's creation, now another generation of Palestinians would in turn themselves be forced to leave their homes for the second time in two or three generations.

And then from the Palestinians, you have a feeling of abject horror that 75 years after hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced to leave their homes or fled their homes during the wars surrounding Israel's creation, now another generation of Palestinians would in turn themselves be forced to leave their homes for the second time in two or three generations.

Exactly. In 1948, in the wars surrounding Israel's creation, somewhere north of 700,000 Palestinians fled or were forced to flee their homes. In what has become the kind of foundational trauma of Palestinian history, referred to by Palestinians and indeed across the Arab world as the Nakba, or in English, catastrophe.

Exactly. In 1948, in the wars surrounding Israel's creation, somewhere north of 700,000 Palestinians fled or were forced to flee their homes. In what has become the kind of foundational trauma of Palestinian history, referred to by Palestinians and indeed across the Arab world as the Nakba, or in English, catastrophe.