Arab nations reject Trump’s plan to move Palestinians to Egypt, Jordan
Arab nations on Saturday rebuffed President Trump’s plan to resettle Palestinians from war-torn Gaza to neighboring Egypt and Jordan.
Top diplomats and officials from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, the Palestinian Authority and the Arab League released a joint statement following a meeting in Cairo, rejecting any proposal to take in Palestinians booted from Gaza or the West Bank.
“We affirm our rejection of [any attempts] to compromise Palestinians’ unalienable rights, whether through settlement activities, or evictions or annex of land or through vacating the land from its owners . . . in any form or under any circumstances or justifications,” the joint statement read.
The Arab nations’ get-together came less than a week after Trump said he would like to just “clean out Gaza” and floated the idea of sending many now-homeless Palestinians from the war-torn territory to Egypt and Jordan.
“It’s literally a demolition site right now,” Trump said, referring to devastation caused by Israel’s 15-month war with Hamas, which is currently halted amid a tenuous cease-fire deal.
Trump added that the relocation of the 2.3 million Gazans could be temporary or long term.
The Arab nations further warned that forced removal of Palestinians could threaten stability in the tinder-box region, potentially upending any possibility for “peace and coexistence among its peoples.”
They added that they were looking forward to working with the new Trump administration “to achieve a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East, based on the two-state solution.”
On Wednesday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi also nixed Trump’s idea, insisting that the answer to the crisis would be a two-state solution, “not to remove the Palestinian people from their place.”
Trump, however, discussed with el-Sissi in a phone call Saturday the possibility of moving Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt during the period when the enclave is undergoing reconstruction, a source familiar with the details of the conversation told Axios reporter Barak Ravid. Cairo confirmed the call and said el-Sissi invited Trump to visit Egypt as soon as possible, the report said. Trump also invited el-Sissi to Washington.
In a statement, el-Sissi said he told Trump during the call that the world is relying on his “ability to reach a permanent and historic peace agreement that ends the conflict that has existed in the region for decades,” the Times of Israel reported.
A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
With Post wires
