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While President Donald J. Trump is proposing the United States take temporary control of the Gaza Strip to clear it of unexploded ordnance, remove ruble, and redevelop the land—and possibly displace the territory’s Palestinian residents—it isn’t clear who exactly the U.S. would be taking the land from. A nebulous series of treaties—some dating to the Ottoman Empire—conflicting land claims, and a breakdown in civil society and governance has left the Gaza Strip a patchwork of private and public landholdings with no apparent governing authority.
Ostensibly, the Gaza Strip—which hugs the Mediterranian coast between Israel and Egypt—is controlled by the Islamist Hamas terrorist group, which seized control of the…
