TNA Staff
The New Arab / February 11, 2025
Donald Trump meets Jordan’s King Abdullah on Tuesday for what is likely to be a tense encounter following the US president’s Gaza ‘redevelopment idea’ and threat to cut aid to the US-allied Arab country if it refuses to resettle Palestinians.
King Abdullah has said he rejected any moves to annex land and displace Palestinians.
Trump had threatened to “conceivably” withhold aid from Jordan and Egypt if the two Arab states did not comply with his controversial proposal, which has since sparked outrage among Palestinians and Arab countries in the region.
The Republican leader told the US conservative-leaning news channel Fox News that Palestinians would not have the right to return to Gaza, instead advocating for much “better housing” in neighbouring countries.
Trump’s proposal, floated one week ago, for the US to take over Gaza, move its shell-shocked residents and transform the war-ravaged territory into the “Riviera of the Middle East” drew a negative response from the Arab world.
Trump has modified aspects of his initial proposal and doubled down on others. He has expressed increasing impatience with Arab leaders who see the idea as unworkable.
Sisi urges reconstructing Gaza without mass displacement
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi urged on Tuesday the reconstruction of Gaza “without displacing Palestinians”, after US President Donald Trump said he could “conceivably” halt aid to Egypt and Jordan if they refuse to take in Palestinians from Gaza.
During a phone call with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Sisi “stressed the necessity of starting the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip… without displacing Palestinians and in a way that ensures the preservation of their rights… to live on their land”.
The Egyptian president also said that the establishment of a Palestinian state is “the only guarantee for achieving lasting peace” in the region, according to a statement from his office.
Trump has proposed the US taking over Gaza and clearing Palestinians out, envisioning rebuilding the devastated territory into the “Riviera of the Middle East” after resettling Palestinians elsewhere, namely Egypt and Jordan.
The US president’s remarks have sparked global backlash and Arab countries have condemned the proposal, insisting on a two-state solution with an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.
On Monday, Egypt’s foreign ministry rejected “any compromise” that would infringe on Palestinians’ rights, including their right to “remaining on the land”, in a statement issued shortly after Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty met with his US counterpart Marco Rubio in Washington.
Last week, Abdelatty spoke with regional counterparts, including in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, in a bid to shore up opposition to any forced displacement of Palestinians from their land.
