U.S. President Donald Trump's vision for the Gaza Strip, namely that the entire population of the Strip will leave and the U.S. will take over the area and oversee its reconstruction, a vision he presented in a joint February 5, 2025 press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, met with pointed criticism in Qatar. Qatari press editorials stressed that "Qatar supports the steadfastness of the Palestinian people in its land," and called Trump's plan of expelling the Palestinians "a heinous crime" that threatens the stability of the region and as "the worst thing the Palestinians and the world could have expected." A columnist in a Qatari daily predicted that Trump would meet a bitter fate because of this plan, and proposed to return the Palestinians into the state of Israel instead.
This criticism also found expression on X. Qatari journalists, presenters on the emirate's Al-Jazeera Network and clerics affiliated with Qatar attacked the proposal and Trump himself. One journalist wrote that Trump suffers from schizophrenia, and others described his plan as "cursed" and as a "pipe dream," and called to oppose it. Clerics close to Qatar even wrote that cooperating with the plan is an act of betrayal against Allah and the Prophet Muhammad, and stated that Palestine will not be free until "America and its agents pay the price for their barbarism" there.
Cartoon in Qatari daily: Palestinian holding a key, symbolizing the right of return, declines Trump's proposal of money, saying: "[Palestine] is not for sale" (Al-Sharq, Qatar, February 6, 2025)
This report presents some of the Qatari responses to Trump's proposal for the Gaza Strip.
Qatari Government Daily Al-Sharq: Trump's Proposal Is A Heinous Crime That Threatens The Region's Stability
The February 6 editorial of the daily Al-Sharq stated: "Qatar, along with the [other] countries of the region, underlines its full support for the steadfastness of the Palestinian people in its land and for its insistence on its legitimate rights, in accordance with international law.
"Doha reiterates its rejection of [anything that] violates the inalienable rights of the Palestinians, whether through settlement activity, expulsion, annexation of land or exile of landowners, in any circumstances and under any pretext.
"Exiling the Palestinians from their lands is a heinous crime against them… [which] threatens stability, perpetuates the conflict in the region and thwarts opportunities for peace and coexistence between the peoples of the region."[1]
Editorial In Al-Quds Al-Arabi: Trump Has Become "The Worst Thing" For The Palestinians And The World
The February 6 editorial of the London-based Qatari daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi stated that Trump "has become the worst thing the Palestinians and the world could have expected," and added: "His statements are a warning bell, not only for the Palestinians but for the Arabs and the world at large. They are also an opportunity to repeat warnings we have voiced many times in the past, regarding the inconsistency of Trump's proposals: [he vowed] to 'end wars,' yet his foreign policy lays solid foundations for a union between the far-right movements in the West and the Israeli extremism…
"This is naturally not the time to rebuke the Arabs and Muslims who voted for Trump, or the analysts who contributed to the unfortunate conclusion that there is no political difference between the Republicans and Democrats in America…"[2]
Cartoon in Qatari daily: Gaza Strip closes its ears to Trump's proposal (Al-Watan, Qatar, February 6, 2025)
Columnist In Qatari Daily To Trump: "Blondie," Retract Your Plan Or Be Haunted By Curses
Palestinian journalist Samir Al-Barghouti, who writes a column for the Qatari daily Al-Watan, warned Trump that everyone who tried to occupy Gaza in the past was cursed to death. He wrote: "Welcome, Blondie. If you knew what curses befell everyone who ever set foot in this land with the aim of usurping it, stealing it and settling it by force, you wouldn't have made [these] statements, wouldn't have spoken [this way] and wouldn't have thought of expelling the people of Gaza from their [land]. Gaza was Palestinian before and after the birth of Christ, and it will remain Palestinian after October 7, [2023], just as it was Palestinian until October 6, [2023].
"Think again, Mr. Blond President. You are a tycoon and a businessman, and you aspire to [win] the Nobel Prize, so go ahead and make peace in Palestine. Return the [Palestinians] to their cities and villages from which they were expelled in 1948. Return the people of Gaza to the Gaza [Envelope], to Beersheba, Ashkelon, Jaffa, Lyda and Ramla, from which they were expelled in 1948, and then you will deserve a Nobel Peace Prize…
"Do you want to follow in the footsteps of the Hasmonean king[3] and of Alexander the Great,[4] and be haunted by curses even after your death[?] What happened to [Israeli prime minister] Ariel Sharon[5] is not far [from that], either!!!"[6]
Al-Jazeera Presenters: Trump's "Cursed" Declaration Is "A Pipe Dream"; Resist And Do Not Surrender
Muhammad Fathi Hamdan, a Palestinian presenter on the Al-Jazeera Network, wrote on February 6 on his X account: "Since [the days of] Theodor Hertzl, Arthur Balfour, [David] Ben-Gurion, [Ariel] Sharon, [Binyamin] Netanyahu and others and until this very day, the Palestinian people suffered and it will continue to suffer, but it has never surrendered and will never disappear. We shall remain a thorn in the side of the colonialist until the balance of power changes. Trump's cursed declaration [came on] February 5, 2025! [an allusion to the Balfour Declaration of November 2, 1917]."[7]
Al-Jazeera presenter and producer Ahmad Mansour wrote on X the same day: "Trump's statements about Gaza pour oil on the fire and expose the loathsome old plans that the Palestinians have been fighting since the 1930s. They are resisting and spilling their blood in order to continue existing in their land. They will remain in their land and will not leave it… What Trump and Netanyahu want [for Gaza] is nothing but a pipe dream. What they did not manage to achieve with the war, they will [certainly] not achieve by peaceful means. Having power does not mean you can do whatever you want…"[8]
Another Al-Jazeera presenter, Zein Elabadin Tawfik, wrote on X: "Netanyahu himself could not believe his ears when Trump said the U.S. would take over Gaza. I say once again: What [Trump] said is not an inevitable decree of fate, and perhaps it's time for our leaders to take a stance that will be remembered by history and by future generations. Nothing justifies surrender. Even in nature, hunted animals resist predators. Resist and be saved."[9]
Salam Hindawi, also a presenter and producer on Al-Jazeera, questioned America's ability to take over Gaza and hinted it will encounter strong resistance, just as the Israeli army did. She wrote on her X account on February 5: "Several months ago, the Israeli and American forces together could not manage to stabilize a floating dock in the stormy [sea] off the Gaza coast. Let Trump and the American commandos ask the crippled [soldiers of Israel's] Golani and Givati [units], and the [Israeli] crack troops, about Gaza as part of their exchange of expertise."[10]
Cartoon in Qatari daily: Trump and Netanyahu hold up a gate resembling the gate of the Auschwitz extermination camp that says "Trump's plan for Gaza" (Alaraby.co.uk, February 6, 2025)
Qatari Journalist: "Trump Has Some Kind Of Schizophrenia"
Qatari journalist Abdallah Al-Amadi, formerly a media advisor to Qatar's education minister and the deputy editor of the daily Al-Sharq, wrote in English on X: "Trump's myths & nonsense topics that began before the election & after he became president, are within the context of the desire to stay under the spotlight all the time. He doesn't care either about his jokes, or People's criticism, what is important for him is to be number one in the media around the world !! You could say that he has some kind of schizophrenia.[11]
Qatar-Affiliated Clerics: Whoever Cooperates With Trump Betrays Allah; Palestine Will Only Be Free After America And Its Agents Pay The Price For Their Barbarism
Ali Al-Qaradaghi, chairman of the International Union of Islamic Scholars (IUMS), which is based in Doha and is supported by the Qatari regime, wrote on his X account: "Agreeing to the banishment of the Palestinians is [an act of] betrayal against Allah, the Prophet [Muhammad] and the next generations, and whoever is part of it will be held accountable by Allah."[12]
In another post he wrote: "Silence over the banishment of the Palestinians is abetting the crime, and these plans must be firmly opposed."[13]
Muhammad Al-Mukhtar Al-Shinqiti, a member of the IUMS and a lecturer at Qatar University, shared a photo of Trump, King Abdullah of Jordan and Egyptian President Al-Sisi, and quoted the Hadith of the Stones and the Trees, which states that "the hour of judgment shall not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them, so that the Jews hide behind trees and stones, and each tree and stone will say: 'Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him' – except for the Gharqad tree, for it is the tree of the Jews." Al-Shinqiti added a comment: "Even if the entire world – the stones and the trees – stands up against the Zionist barbarism, the American Gharqad tree and its poisoned branches in the Arab world [apparently hinting at Egypt and Jordan] will continue to defend them to the end. Palestine will not be liberated and our nation will not be free until America and its agents pay the price for their barbarism in Palestine…"[14]
[1] Al-Sharq (Qatar), February 6, 2025.
[2] Al-Quds Al-Arabi (London), February 6, 2025.
[3] The reference is apparently to Jonathan Apphus, one of the sons of Mattathias, who ruled the Hasmonean kingdom for 18 years (from 168 BC until 143 BC). In 142 BC he besieged and conquered Gaza and took prisoners from it, and one year later he was assassinated by Tryphon, one of the claimants to the throne of the Seleucid kingdom.
[4] In 332 BC, as part of his campaign to conquer the Persian Empire, Alexander the Great captured Gaza, killed its men and enslaved its women and children. Alexander died in 323 BC, at the age of 32, of a mysterious illness.
[5] The reference is apparently to the counterterrorism operations Sharon conducted in Gaza in the 1970s as head of the IDF Central Command. Sharon died in 2014 after being in a coma for eight years.
[6] Al-Watan (Qatar), February 6, 2025.
[7] X.com/OfficialMHamdan, February 5, 2025.
[8] X.com/amansouraja, February 5, 2025.
[9] X.com/zeintawfik, February 5, 2025.
[10] X.com/HindawiSalam, February 5, 2025.
[11] X.com/Abdulla_Alamadi, February 6, 2025.
[12] X.com/Ali_AlQaradaghi, February 5, 2025.
[13] X.com/Ali_AlQaradhari, February 5, 2025.
[14] X.com/mshinqiti, February 5, 2025.
