President Donald Trump is standing firm on his plan to relocate “permanently” more than 2.1 million Palestinians who live in the Gaza Strip to neighboring countries. Trump said the United States would take ownership of Gaza and redevelop the territory to serve as prized real estate on the Mediterranean Sea. Trump told Fox News’s Bret Baier that those living in Gaza would not be allowed to return.

Some commentators say the president should not be taken literally. They argue that Trump is attempting to secure greater regional efforts to support Gaza’s postwar development. That by dangling a deeply unpopular idea of displacing the Palestinians out of Gaza, America’s Middle Eastern partners will have to offer better alternatives. What these arguments fail to recognize, however, is that Trump’s rhetoric complicates rather than encourages greater regional support for efforts to stabilize Gaza and secure Israel.