Donald Trump, the would-be emperor of reaction, is at it again. His latest scheme, to forcibly expel the people of Gaza and turn the strip into the “Riviera of the Middle East” is nothing short of ethnic cleansing dressed up as capitalist fantasy. Worse still, he’s using U.S. imperialist leverage to bully Egypt and Jordan into taking in millions of displaced Palestinians by threatening to cut off aid.
This is a textbook example of how imperialism operates: dispossession, coercion, and exploitation. The forced transfer of an entire population is a flagrant violation of international law. Under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), such actions constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Geneva Conventions prohibit the forced displacement of people under occupation. But Trump, like every U.S. president before him, operates under the assumption that laws apply to others, never to Washington’s chosen rulers.
“But Trump, like every U.S. president before him, operates under the assumption that laws apply to others, never to Washington’s chosen rulers.”
Ethnic Cleansing and Capitalist Reconstruction
The essence of Trump’s proposal is not just the expulsion of Palestinians but the capitalist redevelopment of Gaza. The “Riviera of the Middle East” vision is a grotesque demonstration of how capitalism turns mass suffering into a business opportunity. First, the land must be cleared—Palestinians expelled, resistance crushed. Then, Western and Gulf investors can sweep in, transforming a battlefield into a playground for the rich.
This is disaster capitalism in its purest form. It follows the logic of every imperial occupation: erase the indigenous population, privatise the ruins, and repackage the theft as “rebuilding.” But Trump’s plan doesn’t stop at Gaza’s borders—it extends to regional strong-arming, using economic blackmail to force neighbouring states into complicity.
This is disaster capitalism in its purest form. It follows the logic of every imperial occupation: erase the indigenous population, privatise the ruins, and repackage the theft as “rebuilding.”
This economic blackmail is not limited to Palestinians alone. In a move reminiscent of classic imperialist coercion, Trump is threatening to withhold aid from Egypt and Jordan unless they agree to absorb millions of displaced Palestinians. Both countries rely on U.S. financial support, Egypt receives over $1.3 billion in military aid annually, while Jordan, home to millions of Palestinian refugees, is a key recipient of economic assistance. By leveraging this dependency, Washington is attempting to strong-arm these governments into facilitating a mass expulsion. This is not humanitarian policy; it is imperialist extortion, forcing neighbouring states to bear the cost of Israel’s settler-colonial expansion while ensuring the complete erasure of Palestinian national identity.
Can Trump Be Prosecuted for War Crimes?
Legally, Trump’s actions should land him in The Hague. The ICC has jurisdiction over crimes against humanity, and forced displacement is explicitly listed. Yet, the U.S. is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, meaning Washington protects its leaders from international accountability. The American Service-Members’ Protection Act—dubbed the “Hague Invasion Act”—even authorises military intervention if any U.S. official is detained by the ICC. In other words, the U.S. reserves the right to commit war crimes with impunity.
There is, however, the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows national courts to prosecute individuals for grave crimes regardless of where they were committed. This has been used to target figures like Chile’s Pinochet and former Israeli officials, but no U.S. president has ever been held accountable in this way. The reason is clear: Western legal systems are designed to prosecute the enemies of capital, not its chief enforcers.
“Western legal systems are designed to prosecute the enemies of capital, not its chief enforcers.”
Trump’s insistence that no Palestinian should have the right to return to their homes is a blatant violation of international law and multiple UN resolutions. The right of return is enshrined in UN General Assembly Resolution 194 (1948), which states that Palestinian refugees should be allowed to return to their homes or receive compensation if they choose not to. Further, UN Security Council Resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973) reaffirm the necessity of a just resolution for refugees. By openly disregarding these legal frameworks, Trump aligns himself with the longstanding Zionist strategy of demographic engineering—erasing Palestinian existence to solidify settler-colonial dominance. His attempt to “buy” Gaza by expelling its people and turning it into a tourist hub is nothing more than a modern iteration of colonial land theft.
Imperialism, Not Justice
Ultimately, whether Trump faces trial will not be determined by legal norms but by political power. The U.S. and its allies will not allow a former president to be prosecuted in The Hague, but if the political tides shift, there could be domestic attempts to hold him accountable. More likely, his plan will be scrapped, not because of legal pressure but because it threatens to destabilise U.S. imperial control in the region.
The lesson is clear: justice under capitalism is a farce. The only real answer to war crimes, forced displacement, and imperialist plunder is mass resistance. Gaza’s fate will not be determined by courtrooms in The Hague but by the Palestinian people themselves and by the movements of workers and oppressed peoples across the world who refuse to let imperialism dictate history.
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