Manitobans call Trump's pitch to take over Gaza Strip grotesque, vulgar and 'wholly unlawful'

U.S. President Donald Trump's idea to take ownership of the Gaza Strip, move Palestinians out and redevelop it has stunned the Palestinian community in Manitoba and outraged an expert in international law.

"I don't know where or how he thinks he's even capable of doing that. It's shocking, disgusting," said Ramsey Zeid, president of the Canadian Palestinian Association of Manitoba.

"What gives him the right to say or do any of that? He has no right to get involved at all," Zeid said.

"This is not a TV show. This is not one of his own businesses that he's operating. These are countries that don't belong to him. These are people's lives that he's playing with, and he needs to tread lightly."

During a joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday in Washington, Trump said he wants Palestinians in Gaza to be "permanently" resettled outside the war-torn territory, which would then be developed into the "Riviera of the Middle East."

"Everybody I've spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land," he said. He did not rule out sending U.S. troops in to secure Gaza.

Earlier, in the Oval Office of the White House, Trump said Palestinians would love to leave Gaza if there was another option.

"What do they have? It is a big pile of rubble," he told reporters.

He proposed the 1.8 million Palestinians in Gaza move to neighbouring countries, calling for Jordan, Egypt and other Arab states to take them in.

"Not only is it absurd politically, but it's a grotesque, vulgar display of power that violates every single basic principle of international law that we have. It's wholly unlawful," said Nathan Derejko, an assistant law professor at the University of Manitoba and the Mauro Chair in Human Rights and Social Justice.

"It breaches some of the most basic and fundamental provisions of the United Nations Charter."

War crime

The charter, the United Nations' founding document that came into force in 1945 following the end of the Second World War, creates the international body of law that regulates relationships among all 193 member states.

"And some of those bedrock rules are the prohibition of the use of the threats of force, annexation or acquisition of territory through through force. These things are categorically prohibited," Derejko said.

If the U.S. brought in troops to force a takeover, it would "immediately activate an international armed conflict" and bring into effect the laws of war, he said.

"This would also amount to, under the laws of war, a war crime — the war crime of forcible deportation or forcible transfer," Derejko said.

It also amounts to ethnic cleansing by denying Palestinians the right to self-determination, he said.

"It would breach almost every single legal framework of international law that is out there."

For Trump to claim he knows what Palestinians want is offensive, Zeid said.

"That's their home, their land. They have lived there for generations. Their ancestors are from there," he said. "It's for them to decide if they want to stay or leave. You can't just pick people up and say 'you're not welcome here.'

"I don't know what our Canadian government can do, but they need to put pressure on not only the Israeli government but on the United States government to follow international law, to let the Palestinians live their lives in their land, on their own."

Canada must speak out

Derejko agreed that Canada has been far too silent.

"The problem with international law, and how it differs from domestic law, is that it's a horizontal legal system. It has to be enforced by the participants, that is [the member] states. They have a legal obligation to arrest suspects … or implement the decisions of the International Court of Justice," he said.

"We need governments, Canada included, to stand up and categorically reject this absurd notion of the United States ethnically cleansing Gaza Strip to build some kind of Riviera."

Canada needs to have a strong response, as it responded to Trump's tariff threat, countering that with its own measures, Derejko said.

Canada has preached international law for decades, "and yet it sits back and just watches human rights violations occur without taking a principled stand," he said.

"We're seeing other countries across Europe with emphatically clear statements of their positions, but nothing from Canada — radio silence over here."