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Although the president had been talking about the concept for weeks, there were no meetings on the issue and the members of his government were taken by surprise.
By Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman
When President Trump announced his proposal on Tuesday for the United States to depend on Gaza, he even surprised the members of his own white and government space.
While his announcement is formal and considered, he read the plan of a role, his management had not even made the maximum fundamental manufacturing plans to read about the viability of the idea, according to another 4 people with wisdom of discussions, who, who, who, who, who, who, who They were not authorized to speak publicly.
It wasn’t only the Americans who were scrambling; the announcement came as just as much of a surprise to Mr. Trump’s Israeli visitors. Soon before they walked out for their joint news conference on Tuesday, Mr. Trump surprised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel by telling him he planned to announce the Gaza ownership idea, according to two people briefed on their interactions.
Within the U. S. government, there had been no assembly with the State Department or the Pentagon, as would be the case for a serious foreign policy proposal, let alone one of this magnitude. There had been no race groups. The Ministry of Defence had not produced an estimate of the number of troops required, or collect estimates, or even a review of how it may operate.
There was little beyond an idea inside the president’s head.
Unlike major foreign policy announcements with past presidents, including Mr. Trump, the notion of the United States controlling Gaza had never been part of a public discussion before Tuesday.
But privately, Trump had been talking about U. S. ownership of the enclave for weeks. And his thinking had accelerated, according to two management officials, after his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, returned from Gaza last week and described the horrific there.
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