Thursday, February 6

United States President Donald Trump has proposed another major change as he begins an attempt to take over Gaza, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has backed his new plans.

Trump originally came out with a plan describing exactly how he would take over Gaza on Tuesday, but that proposal came as a major surprise to the US government. Trump had not discussed the idea with anybody but himself, and he had simply created a proposal on his own that would allow the country to take control of Gaza and remove all Palestinians from the Strip.

Then, during a press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he pulled out the proposal and began reading, to the surprise of his administration. He suggested that all Palestinians should permanently leave Gaza and suggested that the US would take it over, "level it out," and rebuild it into a tourist haven-- he labeled the Gaza in his vision as the "Riviera of the Middle East."

Numerous questions about the logistics of the plan blew up across news sources and social media websites, with people wondering how the plan would actually work. The United States would need massive amounts of funding and thousands of troops to just clear Gaza of all of the debris littering the Strip, and that still leaves how they would get all of the Palestinians to leave. Arab nations near Gaza, such as Jordan and Saudi Arabia, pushed back harshly to Trump's proposal, confirming that they would not agree to take in such large numbers of Palestinians.

As these questions were asked to members of the Trump administration on Wednesday, the plan was slightly dumbed down, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt adjusting some of Trump's statements. She stated that they simply wanted Arab nations to temporarily take in Palestinians, as they could return later, and confirmed that the US would not be investing a large amount of money into Gaza-- opposite to what Trump had claimed a day earlier. It still seemed that their team lacked the logistics of the plan, most likely because Trump had failed to discuss it with his administration, and they had been working on the spot to attempt to materialize the plan.

However, many people have praised Trump for his out-of-the-box thinking, as different one-state and two-state solutions to the Israel-Palestine conflict have been attempted countless times over the past 77 years. This includes Netanyahu-- while he initially seemed confused when Trump first read the surprise proposal during the press conference, he backed the adjusted idea stated by Leavitt, labeling it as "the first good idea that I've heard." Israel heavily favors a solution where an ally of theirs takes over Gaza, as that would prevent any future attacks on their soil.

On the other hand, Arab nations surrounding Israel and Palestine favor a two-state solution, as has been previously proposed, which sees Palestine become a country alongside Israel. However, Israel has consistently rejected any sort of proposal involving a Palestinian state, preventing that solution from materializing.

Fact of the Day (Reader's Digest): Hula-Hoops were first marketed in 1957 by Arthur “Spud” Melin, the co-founder of a company called Wham-O, and were an instant success. In fact, 25 million Hula-Hoops were sold during their first four months of production.

Quote of the Day (Gracious Quotes): Everything comes in time to those who can wait. (François Rabelais)

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Canard (noun, kuh-NARD) - Canard refers to a false report or story, or to a belief or rumor that isn't true. It can also refer to a kind of airplane as well as to a kind of small airfoil.

In a Sentence: The book unfortunately repeats some of history's oldest canards.