Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip, Palestine – He tends to a wooden cane, and the 72-year-old Abu Al-Saeed is moving in the streets of the Katiba neighborhood in Khan Yunis-a daily rituals since his return from the displacement in the coastal area of ​​follow-up. January 19, the ceasefire in Gaza. He carefully exceeds the debris leaving it 15 months of uncompromising Israeli bombing, raising his bronchus, pointing to a house that was demolished.

“Do you see that pile of useless rubble?” He says. “This is more expensive than the United States and everything in it.”

His fans – a group of children, including some of his fifty children and grandchildren – listened with interest, without stretching due to heavy rain and strong winds. Others join them – children from displaced families who are also returned, not to sound homes, but to the ruins of what they were before. With no place to go, they rebuild their lives between debris.

Every morning, Abu Al -Saeed exchanged the words of flexibility with the neighbors. But on this day, US President Donald Trump Recent notes on Gaza His imagination of removing its Palestinian population to build “Riviera in the Middle East” – offers new materials for his irony and challenge.

“Trump speaks as if he was a king who distributes the land,” Abu Al -Saeed mocks. “Perhaps he must move his Israeli friends somewhere outside Palestine and leave Gaza on his own.”

Trump commentsWhich sparked widespread condemnation, set a plan to resettle the Palestinians in Gaza elsewhere while “will take over” and “possess” the region. He stands next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – who faces a memorandum of demand for the International Criminal Court for War Crime in Gaza – Trump claimed that the Palestinians deserve better than the supposed “bad luck”.

“They are awarded”

Over the course of 15 months of Israeli bombing, more than 60 percent of the Gaza infrastructure, including hospitals, universities and schools, has been destroyed. Washington, under the former American administration, was the largest supporter of Israel, to send $ 17.9BN In military aid during the first year of the war – the highest total annual ever.

Abu Al -Saeed says: “This is talking about a crazy man.” As we say, we Arabs say: “If the speaker is a crazy man, let the listener be sane.” This man knows nothing about the homeland, struggle, challenge, pride, or Palestine.

He rejected Trump’s comments as ridiculous, shaking Abu Al -Saeed. “This is the best imagination that a global leader dreams,” he says, and he turns between disbelief and laughter. “Any sane person knows the Palestinians realizing that leaving our country is similar to death itself. Did Trump really think that we were beyond and went after all this?”

For Abu Al -Saeed, the idea of ​​collective displacement is personal. His father was forced to leave Jaffa – who is now part of Israel – by Zionist militias in 1948 when Israel was formed, and his mother’s family was expelled from the nearby Saravand village. He grew up on the stories of that first catastrophe – Nakba – and now lives through another.

“We already know what it means to lose everything,” he says indicates ruins. “But we also know what it means to stick to it.”

War I displaced 90 percent from 2.3 million people in Gaza. Many have returned, not to permanent homes, but to destroy – cleaning debris, saving what they can, or preparing tents over the rubble.

“Even under the genocide, we did not leave,” says Abu Al -Saeed, his voice is fixed. “It is not about anywhere to go – it’s our homeland. Our land. Every tile here deserves more than everything that the United States can offer.”

For a week, Trump pressed Egypt and Jordan to accommodate the residents of Gaza, where he developed his development plan as a project to create jobs. But even his allies in Cairo, Raydah, Abu Dhabi, and beyond they rejected the idea directly.

“Trump should think we live in a hotel that he can close,” Abu Al -Saeed laughs. “But Gaza is not a real estate project – it is our land.”

He kicked his reeds against the rubble. “This land is mixed with our sweat and our blood. No one will leave here – regardless of threats or promises.”

“Is he crazy or stupid?”

Abu Al -Saeed sits on a pile of debris, surrounded by enthusiastic children, to his 10 -year -old grandson, Muhammad, a wide smile.

Trump says we must leave Gaza and move to Egypt or Jordan. What do you think? “

The boy explodes in laughter. “Is it crazy or stupid? Why do we leave? Gaza is part of Palestine!”

The other children are in harmony, and their voices rise: “Whoever leaves their house? We will stay and rebuild and fight for him.”

Maktuma Abu Al -Saeed. “There is your answer, Trump. Even our children know better than you.”

During the war, the Israel bombings, hunger tactics, and attacks on hospitals were killed more than 17,400 children, and orphans of thousands of others.

“What kind of logic?” Abu Al -Saeed asks. “They are starving to us, bombing us, then they are surprised when we refuse to leave?”

“Do you know what will not happen again? We leave.”

Trump, as he thinks, does not understand the Palestinians or their struggle. He says, “Israel was built on a lie” land without a people. “But we are here, and we remain.”

His eyes are tight. “For Trump, as for Netanyahu, the only solution is for the Palestinians to disappear.”

Abu Al -Saeed says, despite his age despite his life, but we will not do that.

This piece was published in cooperation with egab.