The leaders of Gulf Arab states met on Friday to strategize with their Egyptian and Jordanian counterparts in an effort to counter President Trump’s controversial proposal to redevelop Gaza underneath U.S. management and displace its Palestinian residents.
The assembly within the Saudi capital, Riyadh, was in preparation for a broader Arab League summit in Egypt on March 4. It ended after a number of hours with none official assertion of what was mentioned or determined.
Mr. Trump’s suggestion this month that the US may take management of Gaza, develop it into the “Riviera of the Center East” and relocate its Palestinian residents to neighboring nations like Egypt and Jordan was met with astonishment and outrage throughout the Arab world. His aides then reframed it as a problem to leaders of the Center East to give you a greater different.
“All these nations say how a lot they care concerning the Palestinians,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated final week. “If the Arab nations have a greater plan, then that’s nice.”
Then, Arab governments scrambled to give you one.
Mr. Trump stated on Friday that he did intend to impose his Gaza plan on anybody.
“I’m not forcing it. I’m simply going to take a seat again and suggest it, after which the U.S. would personal the positioning,” he stated in an interview with Fox Information Radio. “There’d be no Hamas and it might be developed, and also you’d begin yet again with a clear plate.”
Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have been working collectively to forge an alternate thought for Gaza through which Arab nations would assist fund and oversee reconstruction, whereas conserving the 2 million Palestinian residents in place and preserving the potential of a Palestinian state, based on diplomats and officers briefed on the efforts.
However a key sticking level remained the query of postwar governance in Gaza.
A proposed Egyptian plan would probably embrace the formation of a committee of Palestinian technocrats and neighborhood leaders, all unaffiliated with Hamas, who may run Gaza after the conflict.
However Israeli leaders have stated they’d oppose any postwar plans that might pave the best way to Palestinian sovereignty. Arab leaders insist they’d help solely a proposal that no less than nominally solid a path towards Palestinian statehood.
For any Arab technique on the governance of Gaza, the Arab leaders would need the blessing of the Palestinian Authority, the internationally acknowledged physique that administered Gaza till Hamas wrested management of the territory practically 20 years in the past.
However the authority’s president, Mahmoud Abbas, has appeared cautious of any plan that doesn’t give him full management of Gaza. Mr. Abbas didn’t attend Friday’s talks, based on an official {photograph} of the leaders launched by the Jordanian royal court docket.
Hamas officers have stated they’d be keen to cede management over civilian affairs to a different energy however have refused thus far to say they’d disband their navy wing, an unacceptable place for each Israel and Mr. Trump.
Members of the Gulf Cooperation Council attended the assembly in Riyadh together with Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and King Abdullah of Jordan. The Egyptian chief arrived in Riyadh on Thursday for preliminary talks with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.
Chatting with reporters on Wednesday earlier than his departure for Saudi Arabia, Mr. el-Sisi bolstered the concept that Egypt’s proposals would “not contain forcible displacement” of Palestinians.
The Arab plan will deal with concepts that maintain Palestinians inside Gaza to counter Mr. Trump name’s for Egypt and Jordan to take them in, an thought Arab nations have all rejected. Many within the Arab world would contemplate any pressured displacement of Palestinians from Gaza an ethnic cleaning and a conflict crime in addition to a loss of life knell for any future Palestinian state.
Some nations, like Jordan and Egypt, may additionally be involved that elevated Palestinian migration may create financial and political disruptions at dwelling.
There have been plenty of different audacious plans floated for the day after in Gaza, however none have actually gained traction. The most recent one got here from Khalaf al-Habtoor, a billionaire Emirati actual property magnate, who provided an formidable blueprint geared toward rebuilding the enclave inside a “matter of years, not many years.”
His proposal would start with the development of 500,000 prefabricated models as non permanent housing for displaced folks in southern Gaza. The formidable plan would value an estimated $2 billion for an preliminary section that he envisions can be financed by the governments of United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, ought to they settle for his proposal.
It might value greater than $50 billion to rebuild Gaza after practically 16 months of the conflict, based on an evaluation launched by the United Nations, the European Union and the World Financial institution this week.
Any plan for Gaza can even have to consider the necessity to stop future assaults on Israel. There are additionally the questions of who would pay for reconstruction and whether or not Arab nations would ship forces to maintain Gaza steady.
Whereas Egypt has but to launch full particulars of its proposal, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly stated on Wednesday that Cairo was engaged on a complete plan for Gaza’s reconstruction that envisioned restoring the enclave inside three years, based on Ahram On-line, an Egyptian state-run information outlet.
Riyadh has been enjoying a essential diplomatic position this week, internet hosting U.S., Russian and Arab officers for high-stakes talks on the wars in each Ukraine and Gaza.
Vivian Yee contributed reporting from Cairo.
