Trump attacks Houthi rebels in Gaza, 2 million Palestinians in Sudan, Somalia and 3 other countries
The Trump administration has pushed for the “mass migration” of 2 million Palestinians from Gaza to three North African countries, including Sudan, Somalia and Somaliland, which it has designated as terrorist states, and has begun to attack the Houthi rebels’ strongholds.
The United States and Israel have contacted government officials in the three East African countries to discuss using their territories as potential destinations for the Palestinians who were forced out of Gaza under a postwar plan proposed by President Donald Trump, US and Israeli officials told The Associated Press.
The US Defense Secretary said on Monday that the Iran-linked group could expand in response to the deadly US attack the previous day, adding that “we will continue to attack the Houthis in Yemen until they stop their attacks on ships.”
The Houthi-run Ministry of Health said at least 53 people were killed in the US airstrikes. The Houthis, who have launched the largest US military operation in the Middle East since President Trump took office in January, are among three countries that US officials have begun to target as a place for the mass displacement of 2 million Palestinians.
The AP reported on the 16th that “under Trump’s plan, the population of more than 2 million in Gaza would be permanently relocated elsewhere, and he proposed that the US would take ownership of the territory, oversee a long-term cleanup process and develop it into a real estate project,” adding that “the contacts with Sudan, Somalia and the breakaway region of Somalia known as Somaliland reflect a determination by the US and Israel to push ahead with a plan that has been widely criticized and has raised serious legal and moral questions.”
All three North African countries are poor, plagued by internal violence and considered among the most vulnerable to US international strategy.
The AP reported that "Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, whose far-right party has long advocated for 'voluntary immigration' by Palestinians, said this week that Israel is looking for countries to accept Palestinians," and that Israel is preparing a "very large immigration department" within the Defense Department.
Sudan, which the Trump administration has reached out to, is one of four countries that joined the "Abraham Accords" under Trump's first term, including Saudi Arabia, to normalize diplomatic relations with Israel in 2020.
As part of the accord, the U.S. removed Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, a move that allowed Sudan to secure international loans and international legitimacy, the AP said. "But relations with Israel have not progressed as Sudan has been embroiled in a civil war between government forces and the RSF paramilitary group."
Sudan's internal conflict has been marked by atrocities, including ethnically motivated killings and rapes, the U.N. and human rights groups say. The International Criminal Court (ICC) is investigating allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity, AP reported.
In January, the Biden administration, a Democratic party, declared that the RSF, a Sudanese warlord, and its proxies were committing genocide and included them in the Sensitive and Other Designated Countries List (SCL) as terrorist states, and designated South Korea as a “sensitive country.”
At the time, the U.S. Department of Energy designated 25 countries, mostly hostile states including North Korea, China, and Russia, on the SCL for reasons such as national security, nuclear proliferation, regional instability, threats to national economic security, and support for terrorism, and designated six of them as terrorist states: North Korea, Iran, Cuba, Libya, Sudan, and Syria.
The AP reported that “the U.S. and Israel began separate support for these three potential destinations last month, days after Trump announced his plan to go with Netanyahu,” adding that “Israel and the U.S. are providing financial, diplomatic, and security support to these potential partners.” “It is a series of mutually beneficial diplomatic agreements between Israel and four Arab countries, the same formula that Trump used to broker the Abraham Accords five years ago,” he said.
Sudanese officials confirmed to the AP that they had rejected the U.S. offer, and Somali and Somaliland officials told the AP they were unaware of any contact.
The offer “calls into question Trump’s goal of resettling Palestinians from the Gaza Strip in a ‘beautiful place,’” the AP said, adding that U.S. and Israeli officials could offer incentives to the Sudanese government in Khartoum, including debt relief, weapons, technology and diplomatic assistance.
Somaliland, a country of 3 million people in the Horn of Africa that juts out of eastern North Africa, seceded from Somalia more than three decades ago but is not recognized internationally as an independent state and is currently a disputed territory, with Somalia considering it part of its territory.
Somaliland’s new president, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, has made “international recognition” a top priority, and U.S. officials have approached him.
A U.S. official involved in the effort confirmed to the AP that the U.S. is “quietly talking with Somaliland about a range of areas that could benefit the United States in exchange for recognition.”
Somaliland once had a military base in the United Arab Emirates, another Abraham Accord state that has developed strong ties with Israel, and now maintains commercial interests, including a port.
The territory’s strategic location on the Gulf of Aden waterway near Yemen makes it a stronghold for the Houthis, whom President Trump recently declared “the end” by launching missile and fighter strikes against. “In recent years, Somaliland has enjoyed a relatively stable political environment, a stark contrast to Somalia’s ongoing civil war amid deadly attacks by the al-Qaeda-linked militant group al-Shabaab,” the AP said. “Since 1991, Somaliland has maintained its own government, currency and security structure, and its economy remains one of the world’s lowest incomes.”
The US intervention could provide “an incentive” for Somaliland’s President Abdullah to step down, the AP said, given his commitment to Palestinian solidarity. Somalia has strong support for the Palestinians, and there have been several peaceful demonstrations in the streets in support of the Palestinians over the fighting in Gaza.
The AP said, “Somalia participated in the recent Arab summit that rejected Trump’s plan,” and “even if the Palestinians agreed to move, it is unlikely to be a destination for them.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced in a recorded video on X on the 16th that he will submit a resolution to the Cabinet this week to dismiss Ronen Barr, the head of Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, Shin Bet.
“Netanyahu’s attempt to dismiss Ronen Barr, the head of the powerful intelligence agency, has highlighted longstanding tensions between the prime minister and key figures in Israel’s security establishment, who have clashed over their handling of the war in Gaza,” the New York Times reported on the 16th.
“The decision to move forward with Barr’s dismissal follows a Shin Bet investigation into allegations of leaks by several of Netanyahu’s aides, including one of whom is accused of leaking confidential documents to a foreign newspaper (the German newspaper Welt).
Netanyahu’s X In the video message, he said, “I do not trust Barr, so his dismissal was inevitable,” adding, “There must be complete trust between the prime minister and the Shin Bet chief at all times, especially during an existential war like this.”
Barr responded in a strongly worded public statement, saying that Netanyahu’s expectation of “personal trust” was against the public interest, the Times reported.
“It is a fundamentally flawed expectation, and it goes against the law and the statecraft of Shin Bet,” Barr said in an unusual public statement for an intelligence chief.
“Barr had previously told Netanyahu that he planned to remain in office until all hostages held in Gaza were returned and several sensitive investigations were completed,” the Times reported. “The attempt to fire Barr is the third in recent months, following the dismissals of two other security leaders who have often clashed with the prime minister: the defense minister and the chief of staff of the Israeli military.”
Shin Bet released a summary report on the causes of the war on the 4th, titled “An investigation into institutional failures prior to and during the Hamas-led attack in October 2023,” and in it, it criticized the Netanyahu government for its responsibility, stating that “the Internal Security Agency was responsible for failing to heed warning signs of a planned Hamas attack before the devastating attack by the militants on October 7, 2023,” and “policies that allowed Hamas to quietly accumulate weapons, raise funds, and obtain support.”
In an article on the report on the 4th, the New York Times reported that “the Shin Bet report, unlike recent military reports, directly pointed to government policies as the cause of the attack,” and “the Netanyahu government allowed Hamas to accumulate weapons and raise funds for its military organization through Qatar. It is hesitant to carry out ‘offensive’ plans, including targeting Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip.”
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