The Trump administration is gearing up for doubtlessly contentious conferences with Arab energy gamers this week as President Donald Trump continues to press his plan for what he calls U.S. “possession” of Gaza, going as far as to threaten reducing off U.S. help to Jordan and Egypt if they do not go alongside.
On Tuesday, Jordan’s King Abdullah is scheduled to fulfill with Trump on the White Home, changing into the primary Arab chief to do since he returned to energy final month.
Jordan has served as a humanitarian lifeline for civilians in Gaza all through the Israel-Hamas battle and already hosts tens of millions of registered Palestinian refugees.
However Trump’s plan for rebuilding Gaza requires the nation, in addition to Egypt, to soak up near 2 million extra Palestinians he says will be faraway from Gaza in order that the war-torn land will be remodeled into what he calls “the Riviera of the Center East” beneath his watch.
Trump’s proposal to “clear out” Gaza has ignited a pointy wave of backlash from Center Japanese leaders, together with from Abdullah.
King Abdullah II of Jordan represents Queen Elizabeth II as he attends the Sovereign’s Parade on the Royal Navy Academy Sandhurst on Aug. 11, 2017 in Camberley, England.
Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Photographs
“His Majesty King Abdullah II stresses the necessity to put a cease to (Israeli) settlement enlargement, expressing rejection of any makes an attempt to annex land and displace the Palestinians,” the Jordanian royal courtroom stated in a press release posted to X on Wednesday, within the wake of Trump’s beautiful announcement final week.
Within the days since, Abdullah has additionally engaged in a flurry of calls and conferences with the U.N. and different international locations which have traditionally supported the creation of a Palestinian homeland — a attainable effort to current a united entrance aimed toward pushing again in opposition to Trump’s designs for Gaza.
However the opposition seems to have completed little to discourage Trump. In a clip from his weekend interview with Fox Information launched on Monday, Trump stated that beneath his scheme, Palestinians faraway from Gaza wouldn’t have the proper to return to the land after reconstruction was accomplished.
“No, they would not, as a result of they’ll have significantly better housing, significantly better,” he stated. “I am speaking about constructing a everlasting place for them.”
President Donald Trump meets with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu within the Oval Workplace of the White Home, Feb. 4, 2025, in Washington.
Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters
The president has additionally disregarded opposition from Jordan and Egypt to taking in massive numbers of Palestinians, suggesting he would stress their governments to get on board.
“If they do not agree, I might conceivably withhold help,” he instructed reporters Monday evening.
Trump can also be dispatching his high diplomat, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, to the Center East on the finish of this week.
Rubio is slated to go to Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. He additionally met with the Egypt’s international minister on the State Division on Monday. Nevertheless, it is unclear whether or not he’s on the identical web page because the president.
Throughout his tour by Central America final week, Rubio was requested a number of occasions if Palestinians could be allowed to return to Gaza post-reconstruction beneath Trump’s plan; on every event, the secretary didn’t absolutely reply the query, however stated Gazans must stay some other place “within the interim.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio meets with Egyptian International Minister Badr Abdelatty throughout a photograph alternative forward of a gathering within the U.S. State Division Constructing, Feb. 10, 2025, in Washington.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Photographs
Requested how Rubio would resolve related issues raised by Arab chief’s throughout his tour by the Center East, a senior State Division official replied “I do not know what his plans are. I am not a mind-reader.”
In a radio interview broadcast on Monday, the secretary stated he could be the one placing inquiries to Center Japanese officers –asking them how they intention to resolve the battle.
“The one one who’s stood up and stated I am keen to assist do it’s Donald Trump. All these different leaders, they’ll need to step up. If they have a greater concept, then now could be the time,” Rubio stated.
Nevertheless, the international ministers from the Arab international locations Rubio will go to already despatched a letter to him earlier this month detailing their willingness to work with the Trump administration on a two-state answer, which the secretary has all however dismissed.
Some analysts have characterised Trump’s proposal for Gaza as a negotiating ploy. If that is the case, Ahmed Aboudouh, an affiliate fellow at Chatham Home’s Center East and North Africa Programme, argues it has already completed extra hurt than good.
“If Trump’s eye-popping intervention was a bargaining tactic, as some looking for logic within the proposal declare, it has already failed. Monumental harm has been completed to the delicate peace course of and US status,” Aboudouh stated.
Others, like Thomas S. Warrick — a nonresident senior fellow on the Scowcroft Center East Safety Initiative and former Division of Homeland Safety official — see some worth in Trump’s proposal.
“Nobody predicted that Trump would push the USA to interact extra on what postwar Gaza ought to appear to be in a single month than the Biden crew did in fifteen months,” Warrick stated.
Nevertheless, Warrick stated Trump’s technique “will have to be dialed again to what’s workable,” and that he is more likely to come nose to nose with one tall hurdle when he meets with Abdullah: Jordan’s unwillingness to simply accept Palestinian refugees from Gaza.
“There may be fairly actually no software within the US toolbox that would persuade the leaders of Egypt or Jordan to vary their minds on this level,” he stated. “Trump’s advisors know this, however they’d seemingly quite have Trump hear this immediately from Jordanian King Abdullah.”