Dutton backs ‘shrewd’ Trump after vow to take over Gaza
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has hailed Donald Trump as a “big thinker and a deal maker” for his proposal that the US take over and redevelop Gaza.
Trump’s suggestion on Wednesday that the bombed-out strip could be redeveloped into the “Riviera of the Middle East” has been widely denounced, including by Europe and Middle Eastern nations.
The White House later walked back some of the US President’s comments, saying Palestinians would be temporarily relocated rather than permanently displaced and said no decision had been made about sending in US troops.
On Thursday, Dutton said the billionaire, the subject of a popular 1987 memoir Trump: The Art of the Deal, didn’t become US president for the second time “by being anything other than shrewd”.
“I think a lot of people… are coming to grips with it as well as he’s a big thinker and a deal maker,” he told Sydney radio 2GB.
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“You’ve seen it in his business life, and the art of the deal is incredibly important to him, that both sides of the deal are contributing, that nobody’s ripping each other off.
“There’s a desire for peace here from every reasonable person and hopefully it can be achieved.”
Those who dismissed Trump’s idea defied “the reality of the gravitas that he brings to the situation”, Dutton said, adding that Trump was trying to force allies to contribute more to rebuilding the region.
“I don’t think they’re unreasonable expectations. But yes, I think it is about how do you leverage the best possible outcome to provide that peace and stability,” he said.
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Later, Dutton said he still backed a two-state solution in the region – despite global reaction suggesting Trump’s idea would mean an end to it.
“I don’t believe that the Americans have any intent to act outside of international law. I don’t think the President, from what I’ve seen is talking about forcefully moving people,” he said.
“I suspect President Trump, rightly, has an expectation that not just America, but that other countries will contribute to the reconstruction so that people can get their lives back and hopefully Hamas can be crushed. Similarly with Hezbollah.”
Following Trump’s comments, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has reiterated Australia’s long-standing bipartisan support for a two-state solution.
“Australia’s position is the right of both Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security in their own states and that remains our position,” he told Nine’s Today Show.
Jewish groups in Australia have already rejected Trump’s initial proposal to relocate the Palestinian residents.
“The question of whether some Gazans choose to remain in the territory through this process, temporarily relocate or are permanently absorbed by neighbouring states is ultimately a decision for those affected, most of all, Gaza’s civilian population,” Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Daniel Aghion said.
The Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council said it was hopeful the cycle of violence in the Middle East could be broken.
But it also expressed “strong concern over any hint that the US president is suggesting forcibly evacuating Gazans”.
On Wednesday, Trump repeated his previous call for Jordan, Egypt and other Arab states to take in Gazans, saying Palestinians there had no alternative but to abandon the strip, adding he would support resettling Palestinians “permanently”.
– with AAP
