After President Trump shocked the Arab world last month and suggested that the entire population of Gaza be expelled from the territory, his aides reframed the idea as an invitation to Middle Eastern leaders. .
“All these countries say how much they care about Palestinians,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week. “If Arab countries have better plans, that’s great,” Rubio added.
Today, governments in some Arab countries are trying to do just that. Representatives from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates will quietly coordinate to help Arab countries fund and oversee Gaza’s reconstruction, keeping their residents in place and maintaining their potential It forms an alternative vision for Gaza. The Palestinian state explained the effort, according to diplomats and officials.
Envoys from all five countries will make a concrete detail for Saudi Arabia on Friday. It will then be held again on March 4th at a larger summit in Cairo. At these meetings, Egypt has said that two Arab diplomats, Chris van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, said Palestinian technocrats and communities that have no connection to Hamas, who can run through Gaza after the war. would suggest forming a committee of leaders. . Van Hollen said he spoke with foreign ministers from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan last week about the evolving proposal.
“A lot of the focus is to show Trump and others that ‘Yes, there’s a viable plan to rebuild, and we’ll invest resources there,” Van Hollen said.
“Their view is that Trump is a real estate man. He spoke about Gaza’s redevelopment. They say they can rebuild Gaza and provide a future for 2 million Palestinians. I want to show it to you,” Van Hollen added.
Ideas may be presented as fresh alternatives, but they are almost never new. For months, Egypt promoted the idea of the Technocrat Committee, hosting Palestinian leaders in Cairo to discuss the idea. For decades, Arab leaders have sought the establishment of a Palestinian state, including Gaza. Even the Israeli government has personally signalled for over a year that it is open to Arab leaders who play a surveillance role in postwar Gaza.
The challenge is that the obstacles to these ideas are as old as the ideas themselves.
Israeli leaders are opposed to postwar plans that pave the way for Palestinian sovereignty. However, Arab leaders only support frameworks that nominally forget the path to a Palestinian state.
They also want the blessing of Palestinian authority, the internationally recognized body that controlled Gaza until Hamas took control of its territory nearly 20 years ago. However, the authorities’ president, Mahmoud Abbas, appeared to be on guard against the postwar governance structure that did not clearly and completely control the territory. Hamas officials say they are willing to hand over control of civil matters to such bodies. However, they refused to disband their military wings. This is an unacceptable position for both Israel and Trump, seeking full disarmament in Hamas.
“The biggest challenge facing Arab leaders is to present realistic plans that could be imposed on Palestinian factions, and to be accepted by both the US and Israel,” Horizo said. n Center Director Ibrahim Dalalsha said. A group of Ramala on the west bank of the Jordan River. “It’s going to be a very complicated process.”
Some uncertainty has been entrusted with Arab leaders securing Gaza and preventing Hamas from attacking Israel. Israeli officials also hope that Israeli forces have freedom of operation in Gaza in the long term, but the arrangement will be difficult for Arab leaders to publicly support.
I hope Egypt and the Gulf countries will provide their own troops. Last month, Egypt allowed private Egyptian security companies to assist staff at checkpoints in Gaza. This is an arrangement that some diplomats and analysts view as prototypes for a broader business. However, it is unclear whether Arab leaders are ready to send greater strength to secure greater territory. And Hamas is unlikely to accept that intervention.
“Anyone who wants to take away Israel’s place is treated like Israel,” Hamas official Osama Hamdan said at a meeting in Qatar last weekend.
As Trump suggested, the most robust element of Egypt’s plan is focusing on rebuilding Gaza, keeping the Palestinians inside the enclave, rather than banishing them to Egypt and Jordan.
Egyptian President Abdel Fatta El-Sisi outlined the proposal for broadstroke at a meeting between World Jewish Conference President Ronald Lauder and Jordanian Crown Prince Hussein on Sunday. According to a statement from the Egyptian presidency, Elssi spoke with the Jordanian prince “the need to immediately begin reconstructing the Gaza Strip without stoking the Palestinians from their lands.”
However, details of the plan remain unknown.
Retired Egyptian general Samir Faragh said in an interview that Egypt will call both domestic and international companies to rebuild Gaza over the next three to five years. Farag, close to Egyptian officials, said hospitals, schools and other infrastructure will be building following the first phase of increasing humanitarian assistance to Gaza and the removal of tile rubs.
The question of who will pay for it remains unanswered.
Egypt is calling on other Arab countries to donate reconstruction funds at future meetings, Farag said.
But even such peak timing is the subject of confusion. Egypt originally invited Arab leaders to the “emergency” summit on February 27th.
Then it was a week late.
Rania Khaled contributed to reports from Cairo and Ismaeel Naar of Riyadh.
