‘The Right Answer Is Not a Real Estate Operation’: Macron Slams Trump’s Proposal to ‘Take Over’ Gaza

Paris (Quds News Network)- French President Emmanuel Macron has called for ‘respect’ for Palestinians and their Arab neighbors, rejecting US President Donald Trump’s proposal to ‘take over’ Gaza and forcibly displace its residents.

“You cannot say to 2 million people, ‘okay, now guess what? You will move,’” Macron told CNN in an exclusive interview recorded on Thursday at the Elysee Palace ahead of this week’s AI summit.

Speaking to reporters on board Air Force One on Sunday, Trump said Gaza should be thought of as a “big real estate site” and other countries in the Middle East could be tasked with handling its redevelopment.

“As far as us rebuilding it, we may give it to other states in the Middle East to build sections of it; other people may do it, through our auspices,” Trump said while en route to New Orleans to attend the Super Bowl.

In the interview with Fox’s Bret Baier, Trump also said that he would “own” the Gaza Strip and declared it would be a “real estate development for the future”.

At the same time, he continued to endorse a plan for the Palestinians to be forcibly displaced to Egypt and Jordan, a plan that both countries have rejected.

The remarks are the latest endorsement of ethnic cleansing by the US president, who announced his plan last week during a summit with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“The right answer is not a real estate operation, this is a political operation,” Macron said.

Macron has publicly decried Israel’s policies and actions in its military operations in Gaza and Lebanon. France suspended arms exports to Israel in October 2024, calling on other nations to follow suit.

“I always reiterated my disagreement with (Israeli) Prime Minister Netanyahu,” Macron said. “I don’t believe, once again, that such a massive operation targeting sometimes civilian people is the right answer.”

Macron said any “efficient” response to rebuilding Gaza “doesn’t mean automatically that you should lack respect to people or countries.”