Arab leaders forcefully reject Trump proposal for Gaza population transfer

JERUSALEM – The foreign ministers of five Arab states, as well as a senior Palestinian official sent a joint letter to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, urging the Trump administration to back a two-state solution to the more-than-a-century old Israel-Palestinian conflict, while strongly rejecting President Donald Trump’s suggestion Gaza’s population should be resettled – either temporarily or permanently – elsewhere in the Middle East ahead of the Strip’s reconstruction.

“Palestinians do not want to leave their land. We support their position unequivocally,” wrote the foreign ministers of Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE, as well as Palestinian Authority presidential adviser Hussein al-Sheikh.

Trump lit the touch paper after recent several recent pronouncements indicated his favoring resettlement of some 1.5 million Gazans, with Jordan and Egypt appearing most prominently in his thinking. On the question of whether this would be a temporary or permanent solution, the president prevaricated somewhat, merely answering journalists with a “could be either.”

US officials defend Trump’s plan to relocate Gazans: He thinks it’s ‘inhumane’ to keep them there during long reconstruction https://t.co/ObvFFdTZW3

— The Times of Israel (@TimesofIsrael) February 4, 2025

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi declared Palestinian displacement “can never be tolerated or allowed,” citing national security concerns. Jordan, where Palestinians already make up over 70% of the population under Hashemite royal rule, took an equally firm stance.

“Jordan’s rejection of any displacement of Palestinians is firm and unwavering,” stated Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi. “Jordan is for Jordanians, and Palestine is for Palestinians.” The fact this seems a distinction without much of a difference would not be lost on the foreign minister, or the Hashemite royal family, whose grip on power seems increasingly fragile.

BREAKING: President Trump Proposes Moving Gazans To New Piece Of Land, Possibly In Jordan And Egypt; Says Gaza Is A Demolition Zone pic.twitter.com/VeVYOYXyeh

— Shelley G (@ShelleyGldschmt) February 4, 2025

The five Arab nations, plus the Palestinian authority officials, emphasized Palestinians themselves must lead Gaza’s reconstruction with international support. The United Nations joined the opposition, with its spokesperson warning against forced displacement. Several European nations, including Germany, France, and Spain, have also criticized the proposal.

This point is worth dwelling on for a moment. Gaza has had tens of billions of dollars poured into it so Hamas could effectively do one of three things; purchase weapons, create the labyrinthine underground city in which Israeli hostages have been held, and siphon off huge amounts of the money to enrich themselves.

It seems clear President Trump would prefer not to see a repeat of the last 15 months of war between Hamas and Israel, but if this is to be avoided the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist group cannot – as some U.S. officials have intimated – be allowed to run the Gaza Strip.

Similarly, Trump’s request for Arab states to take in displaced Palestinians almost seems humane if the alternative is nearly 2 million people living in squalor until the purported decade-and-a-half reconstruction can be undertaken. For nearly 80 years, Arab states have deliberately tried to make the Palestinians Israel’s problem. Perhaps it’s time to hold them to account and make sure they have some skin in the game.

The regime they’ve propped up – especially Qatar – perpetrated an unforgivable slaughter on the communities of southern Israel and now they expect them to be rewarded with a state because none of these countries actually want the Palestinians on their soil. And the 22 member state Arab League warned it could “trigger instability and derail peace prospects.” This is the epitome of chutzpah.

The diplomats urged the U.S. to oppose any “unilateral measures that undermine the viability of the two-state solution,” continuing, “it is imperative Israel does not annex any Palestinian land.”

On Monday, Trump made further headlines when speaking from the Oval Office he deflected a question about Israel’s annexation of Judea and Samaria. He said he wasn’t going to talk about it, but did note Israel was a “pretty small piece of land,” when compared to the rest of the Middle East.

Trying to guess what is in the mind of President Trump is an exercise in futility; and given his previously fractious relationship with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, there is no guarantee of what he will do next. He has a precarious balancing act to manage.

It seems likely he wants to reanimate the Saudi-Israel normalization deal, which seemed so tantalizingly close at the end of his first term, but having viewed the raw footage of the Oct. 7 massacre, he might baulk at rewarding the Palestinians with a state of their own.