Most Gaza residents are the descendants of Palestinian refugees driven to the enclave in a 1948 war. They harbor a deep fear of being uprooted again, and President Trump's remarks struck a raw nerve.

Speaking of the two Israeli neighbors, Aaron David Miller, a former US Middle East peace negotiator, said on CNN: “It’s not a real estate deal for them, it’s not even a humanitarian issue for them. It’s an existential issue.”

More than 75 years of efforts to broker a two-state solution have failed—and the odds of success have only grown longer.