US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he would consider expelling Palestinians from Gaza to countries outside the Arab world and that he’s not necessarily prepared to entertain alternative plans for the enclave.
In true Trumpian fashion, the overarching sentiments were vague, and he still insisted he would take over the Gaza Strip using an unspecified “US authority”, as he sat alongside King Abdullah of Jordan in the Oval Office.
“We’re not going to buy anything. We’re going to have it,” Trump said of the Strip. “We’re going to keep it, and we’re going to make sure that there’s going to be peace and there’s not going to be any problem, and nobody’s going to question it, and we’re going to run it very properly.”
“I’ve been watching this for so many years. It’s nothing but trouble,” he added. “Everyone’s being killed. They’re being robbed. It’s like living in hell, and they’re going to end up having a great home, great families that don’t have to get mugged and killed and beaten up and harassed by Hamas and everybody else.”
The US president made no mention of the more than 47,000 Palestinians killed by Israel’s 15-month bombing campaign of Gaza or that the enclave has been reduced to rubble.
New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on
Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
But neither did King Abdullah, who mostly watched in silence as members of the White House press corps shouted questions at Trump for twenty minutes before they were shuffled out for the private meeting between the two leaders.
“I think we have to keep in mind that there is a plan from Egypt and the Arab countries,” Abdullah said when prompted to speak by the president. “We’re being invited by [Crown Prince] Mohammed bin Salman to discussions in Riyadh. I think the point is, how do we make this work in a way that is good for everybody? Obviously, we have to look at the best interests of the United States, of the people in the region, especially to my people of Jordan.”
The king praised Trump for his work on ensuring the ceasefire came to fruition and said as an immediate humanitarian gesture, Amman will accept 2,000 children from Gaza who have cancer or other pressing ailments for treatment.
“I truly believe that with all the challenges that we have in the Middle East, that I finally see somebody that can take us across the finish line to bring stability, peace and prosperity to all of us in the region,” Abdullah added.
Arab response
Trump, however, was not as diplomatic.
Asked by a reporter if he would still consider withholding more than a billion dollars in US aid each to Jordan and Egypt until they accept the forced transfer of Palestinians to their countries, Trump said he’d probably “do something” but it doesn’t have to involve aid.
“I don’t have to threaten with money. We contribute a lot of money to Jordan and to Egypt, by the way, a lot to both. But I don’t have to threaten that… I think we’re above that,” he said, turning to look at the king.
When a reporter then pressed Abdullah for a reaction, he evaded addressing the question directly and again deferred to an as-yet undecided Arab consensus, which may materialise after a number of Arab leaders make trips to the White House.
‘Take the Israelis to Alaska’, Saudi official mocks Netanyahu and Trump
Read More »
The king of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, will meet with Trump later this week.
Though there was no announced trip on the books, al-Arabiya on Tuesday said Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi cancelled his visit to Washington amid fury over Trump’s remarks on expelling Palestinians to build a beach resort and forcing Egypt to take some of them in.
Egypt, alongside Qatar and the US, is also a mediator of the talks between Israel and Hamas.
Trump’s surprise announcement exactly one week ago at a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sparked fierce condemnation from allies in the region, and by Monday, threatened to collapse the ceasefire deal entirely after Hamas decided to postpone the Israeli captive release scheduled for Saturday.
Trump also made clear in a Fox News interview on Monday that Palestinians would have no right to return to Gaza after the US rebuilds it.
‘Trying to grasp an idea that would stick’
Even as he doubles down on a proposal many deem too detached from reality, the question remains whether or not Trump should be taken literally or if it’s his overall sentiments that should be taken seriously. In this case, that Gaza might never be under Palestinian control again.
“Trump is clearly living in some Israeli-infused fantasy land, clearly has absolutely no idea what he’s talking about,” Mouin Rabbani, a nonresident fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, told Middle East Eye.
Bishara Bahbah, the founder of Arab Americans For Peace, formerly Arab Americans For Trump until last week, agrees that Trump’s details are hazy.
“We’re not a cult,” he said of his organisation’s name change while indicating that he still stands by his support for Trump.
“It’s clear that the president does not know what to do with Gaza. I mean, he knows that there is a Gaza problem or a Gaza issue that needs to be resolved, but he doesn’t know how to do it,” Bahbah told MEE.
‘Quite clearly, talking points 1 through 100 were, ‘Do not contradict Trump in public”
– Mouin Rabbani, Middle East Council on Global Affairs
Bahbah argues that when Trump looks at the Middle East, he doesn’t see it as a “political map” but rather a demolition site that no one can live in.
“And so those ideas started rushing in his mind, and he’s trying to grasp an idea that would stick, but clearly, when they don’t stick, he comes up with another idea,” Bahbah said.
The draw for Bahbah and many in the Arab-American community was Trump’s repeated campaign pledge for “a lasting peace in the Middle East”.
But without a set definition for what peace is, Trump can very well see it as the mere absence of war, making the forcible transfer of Palestinians acceptable to his administration.
“Peace is a two-state solution, period, with the West Bank, East Jerusalem as its capital, and [the] Gaza Strip,” Bahbah, who is in contact with the Trump team, said.
“That’s my definition of peace, and then the right of return [for] Palestinian refugees to the new Palestinian state, plus compensation, plus other things.”
The Jordanian king refrained from publicly stating the country’s official position in the Oval Office.
“Abdullah, for his part, went out of his way not to contradict Trump in public, and it seems that they agreed that Jordan taking in a few thousand children from Gaza stricken with cancer constitutes the first phase of the implementation of Trump’s plan,” Rabbani told MEE.
“Quite clearly, talking points 1 through 100 were, ‘Do not contradict Trump in public’,” Rabbani said. “That’s all well and good if a clear and unambiguous message was delivered in private.”
What leverage does Jordan have?
Those seemingly private talking points were posted to the king’s account on X shortly after he left the White House on Tuesday.
“I reiterated Jordan’s steadfast position against the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. This is the unified Arab position,” he wrote. “Rebuilding Gaza without displacing the Palestinians and addressing the dire humanitarian situation should be the priority for all.”
The two-state solution, he said, is the only way “to ensure regional stability,” and it “requires US leadership”.
But not having expressed that in a room full of cameras alongside the US president may come to define their meeting.
How Trump and Netanyahu forced Mohammed bin Salman to draw a line on Palestine
Read More »
“That’s certainly not the approach Israelis would take,” Rabbani told MEE.
“[The king] could have staked out principles, if you will, on issues that Palestinians have the right to: a homeland, self-determination.”
Rabbani added that Jordan could have said something as diplomatic as “Jordan has accepted more refugees per capita since the mid-20th century than probably any other country on earth.”
Despite Jordan’s reliance on US aid and its normalisation with Israel for more than three decades, it still has leverage it can use.
“You think the aid that goes to Jordan is without a quid pro quo? There are US bases in Jordan… It’s not for free, you know. And Jordan has secured the eastern front of the Jordan River for the Israelis,” Bahbah said.
“Jordan and Egypt have enormous power. First of all, they have the power to say ‘no,’ which should never be underestimated,” Rabbani said. “Secondly, Jordan and Egypt border Israel and are also the two Arab states with the closest relations with Israel. That’s a huge amount of leverage.”
“Does using it come with risks? Of course, it does,” he added. “Is it going to be used on the evidence? Almost certainly not.”
