But beneath his astonishing plan were echoes of forced displacement that have shaped Palestinian society since 1948. The establishment of Israel that year in the Arab-Israeli war is known to Palestinians as the Nakba, or “catastrophe,” because of the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes.

President Donald Trump’s proposal to forcibly transfer hundreds of thousands of Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip and develop faces some major obstacle.

Trump's idea was influenced by the findings of his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, who had just returned from the region. Witkoff, a Florida-based developer, was shocked by the devastation from Israel's bombing campaign in retaliation for Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks.