Jordan, Egypt build an Arab front against Trump’s transfer plan

Egypt’s foreign minister with officials from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE, in a meeting in Cairo, early February 2025

Jack Khoury reports in Haaretz on 10February 2025:

Egypt announced Sunday that it will host an Arab summit on February 27 to discuss the “serious” developments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Arab diplomatic sources told the Qatari newspaper Al-Araby al-Jadeed that the summit will discuss ways to address U.S. President Donald Trump’s Gaza population transfer plan and to formulate a unified Arab stance on the matter. The sources added that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi and Jordan’s King Abdullah initiated the summit, and that Cairo “received firm assurances that many Arab leaders will participate.”

Also Sunday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty left for the U.S. capital. Sources in Cairo said the purpose of the visit was to prepare for a meeting between al-Sissi and Trump, whose date has not been finalized. King Abdullah is scheduled to meet with the U.S. president in Washington Tuesday.

Arab diplomats who spoke to Haaretz said that Trump’s statements about evacuating and taking over the Gaza Strip are being taken very seriously in Cairo and in Amman, even if in recent days the president has begun to walk back the idea. Cairo is therefore working to forge the broadest possible Arab consensus against any plan centered on transferring Palestinians from the enclave.

Hossam Zaki, the assistant secretary-general of the Arab League, said over the weekend that the Arab League is working to mobilize Arab and international support against Trump’s plan, alongside renewing and emphasizing support for the establishment of a Palestinian state. In an interview with the Egyptian news channel Al-Qahera el-Ekhbariya, Zaki said the Arab moves aim to strengthen the principle of the two-state solution while highlighting the consistency of the Arab rejection of expulsion.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry emphasized in a statement announcing the summit that the gathering will discuss “the latest serious developments” concerning the Palestinian territories, adding that it will be held in coordination with the Palestinians and with the participation of countries including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain – the current chair of the Arab League – as well as Jordan, Iraq, Algeria and Oman.

Intensive discussions are underway in Cairo and Amman among Arab states, with two objectives: to reduce the pressure from Trump if he moves to advance his plan and to create an Arab diplomatic umbrella, and perhaps an economic one, if Washington takes steps with economic implications in order to pressure al-Sissi and Abdullah.

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry emphasized in its statement that the foreign minister spoke with his counterparts in Arab countries, under al-Sissi’s guidance, and that “agreement was reached to increase coordination and continue consultation and coordination” among them.

The main question facing the Arab leaders is whether they can draft and agree on an alternative proposal for the postwar reconstruction and governance of Gaza. A senior Palestinian official who is involved in the negotiations said that while a unified statement against the expulsion of Gazans is very important, a clear framework is needed that will not leave Gaza as a no-man’s land with no clear authority for its management or reconstruction.

“We’ll tell Trump what not to do, and that’s important, but we also need to say what to do,” he said. “Will Hamas control Gaza, and if not, will the Palestinian Authority? How can this be implemented, how do we advance in the reconstruction process and also in the diplomatic process, if at all? These questions still have no answers.”

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