Swinney attacks Trump's Gaza 'take over' plans

Scotland's first minister has accused US President Donald Trump of promoting ethnic cleansing after he announced plans to take ownership of Gaza.

John Swinney said he could have "nothing to do" with suggestions Palestinians should be removed from their home.

Trump has previously called for a "clean out" of Gaza, saying Palestinians should be permanently resettled.

Neighbouring countries have firmly rejected the proposals.

Swinney told BBC Scotland News: "I think it is important that politicians say it as it is and I cannot go along with what President Trump said in anyway shape or form.

"I think what he said amounts to ethnic cleansing. It's about the forced repatriation of the Palestinian people. I cannot go along with that."

He said: "I think the solution to the situation in the Middle East is the establishment of a sovereign, independent Palestinian state as part of a two-state solution."

The first minister said that would allow the people of Gaza to rebuild their lives and homes.

He added: "And after so much suffering, I think that needs to happen."

Swinney also said Sir Keir Starmer should "clearly and unequivocally" disassociate itself from the president's proposals.

SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn echoed that call, saying: "The prime minister must condemn these dangerous plans in no uncertain terms - and the UK government must speak out, act and pull every diplomatic lever to protect Palestinians."

Former First Minister Humza Yousaf, whose parents in-law were trapped in Gaza during the early weeks of the conflict, has also accused Trump of promoting ethnic cleansing.

He told the BBC's Scotcast: "I wasn't terribly surprised that what most Israeli politicians have been saying for decades is now being trumpeted by the most powerful man on the planet."

Yousaf said some of his wife Nadia El Nakla's family were still in Gaza, though their house in the northern part of the region had been "turned to rubble".

He added: "The situation for Nadia's family is devastating, but of course it is not about Nadia's family, she is one of 1.8 million people."

Scottish Green co-leader Lorna Slater urged both Swinney and Starmer not to "cozy up" to Trump.

She said: "There is a responsibility on all governments to condemn these awful plans, stand up to them and do all we can to halt them and to help in building a long-term and sustainable peace."

At Prime Minister's Questions, Starmer said his government supports a two-state solution to the conflict.

He said Palestinians "must be allowed home, must be allowed to rebuild and we should be with them in that rebuild".

Speaking earlier to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Labour Environment Secretary Steve Reed said it would be "inappropriate" to provide a "running commentary" on Trump's statements.

He said the US president "deserves credit for his role" in securing a ceasefire in Gaza.

Speaking at a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said the US would "own" Gaza and "be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site".

He added that "everyone loves the idea" and that the US would "create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area."

"This could be the Riviera of the Middle East," the president told reporters.

Asked if Palestinians who leave Gaza would be allowed to resettle there in the future, Trump said "the world's people" would be able to live in the region, including Palestinians.

Netanyahu, who is the subject of an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court over allegations of war crimes, said the proposal was "worth paying attention to".

Swinney endorsed Trump's rival in the US presidential race, Democrat Kamala Harris, but has sought to avoid direct criticism of the former Apprentice star since he returned to the Oval Office.

Trump's mother was from the Isle of Lewis and and Swinney has repeatedly said he wanted to use the new president's affinity for Scotland to strengthen economic and cultural ties between the nations.

Scottish businesses, particularly Scotch whisky exporters, are keen to avoid a repeat of damaging trade tariffs imposed in Trump's first presidency.

Until now, harsher criticism from the first minister has been reserved for Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X and member of Trump's administration. At a speech last month, Swinney describing him as a "populist".

Ethnic cleansing has not been recognised as an independent crime under international law, though the term has been used in UN resolutions.

A UN commission of experts looking into humanitarian crimes in the former Yugoslavia defined ethnic cleansing as "rendering an area ethnically homogeneous by using force or intimidation to remove persons of given groups from the area".

The recent conflict between Israel and Gaza began on 7 October 2023 when Hamas fighters stormed into Israeli territory, killing about 1,200 people.

The subsequent war has killed more than 46,600 people in Gaza, including a large number of women and children, according to figures by the Hamas-run health authority.

When John Swinney spoke directly with Donald Trump in an introductory phone call two months ago, the Scottish government described their exchanges as "positive".

If they were talking today, I imagine their conversation would be far more strained.

The first minister's view that relocating Palestinians away from Gaza would amount to "ethnic cleansing" is a very direct challenge to the US president's vision for the future of this war-torn territory.

It is also a challenge to the Labour Party at Holyrood and Westminster to speak out in similar terms. The prime minister's call for Gazans to be allowed to return and rebuild is far more diplomatic.

Swinney's general approach to governing is to focus on day-to-day domestic issues like the NHS, so this international intervention is an exception.

The Scottish government does not have a formal role in deciding UK foreign policy but Swinney is entitled to express a view.

Sir Keir Starmer is trying to carefully navigate the UK's relationship with the US at a time when President Trump is threatening to impose import tariffs on goods from European countries other than the UK.