During the joint press conference of US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu following their meeting on Monday, Trump said: “I don’t understand why Israel ever gave up Gaza.” Responding to a reporter’s question about Gaza, Trump said: “You know how I feel about the Gaza Strip. I think it’s an incredible piece of important real estate. I think it’s something that if we were involved in, having a peace force like the US there controlling and owning the Gaza Strip would be a good thing. Because right now, for years and years, all I hear about is killing and Hamas and problems. And if you take the Palestinians and move them around to different countries, and you’ve got plenty of countries that will do that, you really have a ‘freedom zone.’ Right now, it’s a zone where people are going to be killed every day – it’s a hell of a place. I call it a great location that nobody wants to live in because they really don’t.” “I’ve said it, I don’t understand why Israel ever gave it up. Israel owned it.” Pointing to Netanyahu, he said: “It wasn’t this man so I can say it. He wouldn’t have given it up. I know him very well – there’s no way. They took ocean-front property and gave it to people for peace. How did that work out? Not good.” (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)