World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay has described the proposal of US President Trump as “tantamount to proposing full-scale ethnic cleansing and neo-colonization of the homeland of the 2 million Palestinians of Gaza.”

Pillay noted that the proposal violates every applicable principle of international humanitarian and human rights law, flouts decades of efforts by the international community – including by the USA – for a just and sustainable peace for the peoples of the region, and would if implemented constitute multiple international crimes of the most serious kind. “The standing of the United States of America as a responsible member of the international community has been gravely diminished by the proposal itself, not to speak of any actual implementation thereof,” Pillay said. 

In a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on 4 February, President Trump said the United States “will take over” the Gaza Strip — possibly with the help of American troops — while the Palestinians who live there should leave. “The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it too,” said President Trump. “We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings,” he said, describing his vision for the area as a new “Riviera.”
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“A permanent ceasefire would cease hostilities, release all remaining hostages, liberate thousands of Palestinian prisoners detained without cause or charge, ensure continuing and increasing humanitarian aid in all forms — medical, food and psychological — and result in the withdrawal of occupying forces,” write Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian and United Church leaders.
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