It’s a safe bet that much of what President Donald Trump described in two press availabilities at the White House alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, as well as a follow-up social media post, is not going to happen. The US almost certainly will not take a “long-term ownership position” in the Gaza Strip, resettle its 1.8 million people in a “beautiful area” in a neighboring country so enticing that they won’t want to return, or redevelop the strip as the “riviera of the Middle East.”

Top officials including White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have already walked back much of the proposal, saying that the relocation of Palestinians would only be temporary while Gaza is rebuilt and that Americans would not foot the bill. And while Trump has been musing about this for weeks now — and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has been talking about it for months — no one in his administration actually appears to be working to implement it. The White House National Security Council declined to comment, referring Vox to Trump’s statements and social media posts on the topic.

The trope from Trump’s first term that the president’s statements should be taken “seriously but not literally” is probably the best way to think about his proposals for the future of Gaza.

In the region, the statement was not taken as just a flight of fancy. Defense Minister Israel Katz quickly instructed the Israeli military to draft a plan to “allow voluntary departure” of Gaza’s residents. Neighboring Egypt, one of the countries Trump suggested could provide new land for Gazans, said its peace treaty with Israel was at risk if the plan were seriously pursued. For Palestinians, the idea of removing them from their land is a reminder of some of the darkest moments of their history.

Calling this idea a “plan” might be generous, but it’s clear that Trump’s words matter — not just because they indicate the approach his administration might take to........

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