Egypt and Jordan refuse Trump’s proposal to resettle the population of Gaza

Thousands of Palestinian civilians continue to return to their homes in the center and north of the Gaza Strip After the statement of a high fire that has pause fifteen months of war, leaving more than 47,000 dead and thousands of disappeared. Although it is attributed to the new administration of Donald Trump Having forged the truce between Israel and Hamas, now the Republican president has put a controversial suggestion on the table: resettle countries in the region.

In a public intervention, Trump defined the Palestinian enclave as a “place of demolition” and hinted at the need to “clean” Gaza after months of conflict that, according to the United Nations data, They have left 70% of uninhabitable buildings. “When you look at Gaza’s strip, you see that it has been hell for many years,” Trump said. “There have been several civilizations in that strip. It did not start now. It started thousands of years before, and there has always been violence associated with it,” he added after ensuring that there may be safer and more comfortable areas for the Gazatí population.

The idea of ​​resetting the Gazatis in other countries had already been raised by the Benjamin Netyahu cabinet in the first months of war, a proposal that was strongly rejected by Egypt and Jordan, although both Arab countries have good diplomatic relations with the neighboring Israel. Now Trump has submitted the offer as his own, although it is not clear if the US President has made a formal request to Cairo and Amán. “I would like Egypt to accept people. I would like Jordan to accept people,” Trump explained, adding that he would speak the matter with the leaders of both countries.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi rejected Trump’s proposal, noting that his position was “firm and unwavering” and that The resettlement of the Palestinian population “runs the risk of expanding the conflict in the region”. “Our principles are clear,” Safadi reiterated, and said: “Jordan is for the Jordanians and Palestine for the Palestinians.”

King Abdalá II of Jordan spoke Monday with the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubioalthough the issue was not mentioned in the subsequent statement. In addition, Trump also does not have the iron support of the Republicans in his proposal. Senator Lindsey Graham said that the idea of ​​resetting the Palestinian population does not seem “too practical.” Meanwhile, the Israeli press speculates that the republican leader’s proposal It could be a gesture of support to Netanyahu to retain the support of the extreme right -wing allieswho have put in check the coalition of government due to their rejection of the high fire in Gaza.

Egypt, meanwhile, issued a statement, highlighting their “firm support to the Palestinian people in their land.” “(Egypt) rejects any violation of those inalienable rights, either by settlement or annexation of land, or by the depopulation of that land through displacement, encouraging its transfer or uprooting,” the Foreign Ministry said.

Cairo and Aman had previously rejected Israeli plans to resettle the population of Gaza in another territory, fearing that Tel Aviv prevented them from returning, as he did with the refugees he currently welcomes. This refusal to its resettlement was included in the UN resolution approved in March 2024, presented by the United States.

Bassem Naim, a member of the Hamas political office, said the Palestinians “would frustrate” Trump’s project, as they have done with similar plans “of displacement and alternative homelands for decades.” “Our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip endured death and destruction for 15 months without abandoning their land,” he emphasized. The Armed Group Islamic Yihad, which has fought with Hamas in Gaza, described the idea of ​​”deplorable”, while the Palestinian authority – which governs in the West Bank – pointed out that this policy “The Unit of the Palestinian Lands undermines”.

Trump’s proposal has also been repudiated by the Arab League, which considered the project An “ethnic cleaning” attemptas well as humanitarian organizations such as Human Rights Watch.

In Europe, France It has been the first government to “unacceptable” any “forced displacement” of the population of Gaza. “It would be not only a serious violation of international law, but also a serious obstacle to the solution of two states and a destabilization factor of our partners Egypt and Jordan, “said the Gallic Foreign Ministry.