U.S. President Donald Trump has once again thrown a grenade into the delicate equilibrium of Middle Eastern politics, openly advocating for the forced removal of 1.5 million Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt and Jordan. In doing so, he risks upending U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia and other key regional partners, inflaming tensions across the Muslim world, and potentially unraveling fragile ceasefire negotiations in Gaza.

Trump’s remarks—delivered with his signature transactional bluntness—have already sent shockwaves through the region. His endorsement of mass displacement aligns with the long-held ambitions of Israel’s far-right factions, yet it threatens to destabilize autocratic regimes, complicate the post-Assad transition in Syria, and empower militant groups like Hezbollah and Hamas at a moment when their influence had waned.

Compounding the impact of his words, Trump simultaneously lifted the Biden administration’s suspension on sales of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, exempted the country from a 90-day deferral of U.S. foreign aid, and backed Israel’s delay in withdrawing from Lebanon—moves that, collectively, embolden Israeli hardliners and further alienate the Arab world.

Most immediately, Trump’s statements jeopardize Saudi Arabia’s quiet campaign to nudge the United States toward supporting Palestinian statehood as part of a broader deal to normalize relations with Israel. For Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, this was supposed to be a grand diplomatic play: leverage Trump’s preference for high-dollar negotiations to extract a Palestinian state in exchange for Saudi-Israeli normalization.

Instead, Trump has dashed those hopes, aligning himself so fully with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ultranationalist allies that even they might not have dreamed of such explicit support.

Although Netanyahu himself has carefully avoided public endorsement of mass Palestinian expulsion—fully aware of the geopolitical firestorm it would ignite—Trump plunged ahead.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump mused, “You’re talking about a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing…I don’t know, something has to happen, but (Gaza is) literally a demolition site right now. Almost everything’s demolished, and people are dying there, so I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing in a different location where I think they could maybe live in peace for a change.”

Reinforcing Palestinian fears that forced displacement was on the table, Trump said the potential housing in Arab countries “could be temporary” or “could be long term.”

Trump claimed to have raised the idea with Jordan’s King Abdullah and intended to discuss it with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Both countries have long rejected any such plan, acutely aware that being complicit in Palestinian expulsion would make them pariahs in the Arab world.

For Palestinians, the proposal evokes the trauma of the 1948 Nakba, when approximately 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced during Israel’s creation. No Arab leader wants to be linked to what would be perceived as a modern replay of that catastrophe.

Just days before his bombshell remarks, Trump set a price tag for a potential visit to Saudi Arabia: $450 billion to $500 billion in Saudi investments in the U.S. during his presidency. Mohammed bin Salman, eager to keep Trump’s attention, quickly pledged $600 billion over four years—topping Trump’s request. But Trump, ever the dealmaker, promptly upped the ante, calling on Saudi Arabia to “round out” the figure to a full $1 trillion.

Yet, by advocating Palestinian removal, Trump may have torpedoed the very visit that could have sealed his financial aspirations. His stance undermines the Saudi crown prince’s long-term vision: a grand bargain in which Saudi-Israeli normalization is contingent upon Palestinian statehood.

Instead, Trump’s position effectively buries the two-state solution, risks radicalizing Arab and Muslim public opinion, and strengthens the voices that argue diplomacy with Israel is futile.

Recent polling across seven Arab countries—including Palestine but not Saudi Arabia—indicates that, despite the horrors of the Gaza war, there remains a fragile willingness to accept a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Another survey of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank found that a majority still preferred a negotiated resolution to the conflict.

These results came before Trump’s remarks. If his rhetoric translates into policy, it could obliterate what little hope remains for diplomacy.

Palestinian official Mustafa Barghouti suggests that the Palestinian cause has now transcended Arab and Muslim solidarity—it has become a universal human rights issue. The global protests against the Gaza war, international legal proceedings targeting Israel, and the country’s increasing diplomatic isolation all point to a shifting dynamic.

“If all Arab countries normalize with Israel, this will not stop the Palestinian struggle. We will not stop…There is nothing much to lose,” Barghouti declared.

Meanwhile, Hamas is leveraging the shifting tides to its advantage. This past weekend, the group carefully staged a show of force in Gaza City’s Palestine Square, organizing the handover of four Israeli soldiers to the International Red Cross.

The highly choreographed display—featuring Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters in crisp fatigues, armed with automatic weapons, and moving in well-maintained vehicles—was designed to counter Israel’s narrative that the group is on the brink of collapse.

Hamas’ ability to execute such a public maneuver underscores a grim reality: Israel’s efforts to eradicate the group have, at best, been incomplete.

Israeli journalist Amos Harel, writing in Haaretz, warned that the ongoing ceasefire deal was only accelerating Hamas’ resurgence. “The implementation of the [ceasefire] deal is only strengthening Hamas at present and expediting its renewed takeover of the Strip…The situation is also starting to serve indirectly the recovery of its military strength.”

Polling conducted before the recent ceasefire showed Hamas’ popularity had dropped to just 17 percent in Gaza and the West Bank. But Trump’s endorsement of Palestinian expulsion may change that. By reinforcing the perception that diplomacy is futile, Trump could inadvertently push more Palestinians toward endorsing Hamas’ militant approach—viewing its October 7 attack as a legitimate response to decades of occupation and U.S.-backed Israeli policy.

A Western diplomat, speaking under anonymity, didn’t mince words about the implications:

“Trump is lighting Middle Eastern fires. Supporting expulsion fuels Netanyahu’s fantasies but is the region’s worst-case scenario. It’s downhill from here if Trump persists. I shudder at what could lay ahead.”

If history is any guide, Trump’s pronouncements—however casually delivered—could have profound and lasting consequences. By siding so unequivocally with Israel’s most extreme voices, he is not just throwing gasoline on the already-burning Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He is potentially reshaping the geopolitical calculus of an entire region.

And the flames are only beginning to rise.