A strategic hamlet in South Vietnam, c. 1964. Photograph Source: Brotherreuse – Public Domain
For those who either remember or have read about the Vietnam War, the idea of strategic hamlets will leap off the page at them. Strategic hamlets (Strategic Hamlet Program) were a program of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) to take people, peasant farmers, away from the villages in which they lived and relocate them to places where they were supposed to be immune from the influence of the Viet Cong. The Viet Cong was the communist guerrilla force supported by North Vietnam fighting in South Vietnam. They were also supported by the North Vietnamese Army and fought from 1954 until the fall of South Vietnam in 1975.
The strategic hamlets, a “project” of the Diem regime in the south, were colossal failures and actually helped forces from North Vietnam and the Viet Cong recruit fighters and supporters. Try to imagine an organized military force of regular fighters, guerrillas, with the authority of the US government ordering masses of people to relocate and live within regulated areas in the US. The US is far removed from being an agrarian society, but the issue of relocating masses of people away from their homes and work is an example of how outrageous the Strategic Hamlet Program was.
Many of sound mind may have believed that the idea of strategic hamlets was long since abandoned in the dustbin of history. But this is not so with the Trump administration, Netanyahu’s government, and allies of both governments. Try to forget about the genocide in Gaza for a moment, the ongoing subjugation of the West Bank by Israel, and all of the attendant war crimes of the Gaza war and try to imagine a plan similar to strategic hamlets being considered in Gaza (“US Plans Compounds to House Palestinians in Israeli-Held Half of Gaza,” New York Times, November 25, 2025). The Trump administration is “pushing for the rapid construction of residential compounds to provide housing for Palestinians.” These compounds will be called “Alternative Safe Communities” and are planned for the Israeli-held eastern half of Gaza controlled by Israel since the faux ceasefire. “U.S. officials hope Palestinians will be encouraged to move to the new compounds, drawn to the prospect of greater security, freedom from Hamas, job opportunities, and a chance to rebuild their lives.”
These so-called “Alternative Safe Communities” are recycled strategic hamlets envisioned in an area devastated by two years of war, decades of embargoes, and repression. It’s a kind of mayhem and madness that is a part of the US empire, US allies, the US client state, Israel, and the projection of power in the Middle East.
The compound program in Gaza could involve between 20,000 and 25,000 Palestinians and would have ancillary services attached to them. Much of this plan looks strikingly similar to parts of the failed “nation building” in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“Mr. Lightstone, the Trump official leading the effort, was a top aide to former Ambassador David M. Friedman, the president’s first envoy to Jerusalem. His team includes an eclectic, fluctuating group of American diplomats, Israeli magnates, and officials from the Department of Government Efficiency — the sweeping Washington cost-cutting effort overseen earlier this year by Elon Musk” (New York Times).
“The team operates out of two luxury beachfront hotels in Tel Aviv, the Kempinski and the Hilton, where rooms regularly run over $700 a night, brainstorming ideas and sketching out diagrams of what the new Gaza compounds should look like” (New York Times).
“It’s like déjà vu all over again,” as the great Yankees catcher Yogi Berra said.
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