Activists vandalize Trump golf resort over his comments on emptying out Gaza

In this file photo, Charley Hull of England putts on the 2nd green during the third day of the Women's British Open golf championship on the Turnberry golf course in Turnberry, Scotland, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2015. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)

LONDON (AP) — Pro-Palestinian activists said Saturday they have vandalized one of U.S. President Donald Trump’s golf resorts in Scotland in response to his proposal to empty the Gaza Strip of its Palestinian population.

Activists targeted Trump’s Turnberry golf course and hotel in southwest Scotland overnight, painting “Gaza Is Not For Sale” in giant letters on the lawn and using red spray paint on the club house’s exterior wall.

The group Palestine Action said it “rejects Donald Trump’s treatment of Gaza as though it were his property to dispose of as he likes.”

“To make that clear, we have shown him that his own property is not safe from acts of resistance,” it said in a statement.

Police Scotland said it received a report of damage to the golf course in the early hours of Saturday, and that inquiries are ongoing.

Trump Turnberry called the activism a “childish, criminal act” and said it will ensure it does not affect its business.

The future of Gaza is uncertain as the first phase of a ceasefire that paused the 15-month war between Israel and Hamas ended with no clarity on what would come next because the agreement’s second phase has not yet been hammered out.

Meanwhile, Trump has called for Gaza’s population to be resettled elsewhere permanently so that the United States can take over the territory and develop it for others. Palestinians have roundly rejected calls to leave.

Turnberry is one of 10 courses on the rotation to host the British Open, the oldest of the four major championships in men’s golf.

However, it hasn’t staged the event since Trump bought the course in 2014 and renovated several holes.

In November, Martin Slumbers, who at that time was the chief executive of British Open organizer the R&A, said there were no immediate plans for the event to return to Turnberry.

The Associated Press