An unusual level of secrecy surrounds the high-level meeting of Arab leaders who got together in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s suggestion to move all Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip and let realtors do business on that strip of land. This was to be in the name of rebuilding the settlement destroyed by Israeli bombing for the past 15 months. There was no final communiqué, Presser or details of when the meeting started or ended. Instead, only a single photo showing the leaders standing shoulder to shoulder was released. This, however, shows how sensitive these talks are for Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, leaders from other Gulf states, Egypt’s President and Jordan’s king, who all attended. What is at stake is whether they can reach a consensus and unite around an Egyptian plan for Gaza that is starkly different to the one laid out by President Trump in recent weeks. Absolute silence could also imply that none of the leaders was willing to accept the horde of Gazans polluting their respective societies. Palestinians are the single source of immense unrest and trouble for that region.
In fact, Arab states are scrambling to address Trump’s vision for Gaza, in which he says the US should take ownership of the territory, displace all its 2 million Palestinians permanently to countries like Egypt and Jordan and turn this sliver of beachfront territory into a real estate project. Such a settlement proposal is contrary to all canons of diplomacy being followed by nations for the past eight decades. The plan poses a threat to an already shaky ceasefire in Gaza. Israeli airstrikes have decimated the territory and killed at least 48,000 people, most of them women and children as the men use them as shields while they themselves keep busy in terror activities. The war erupted when Hamas militants attacked an Israeli music concert dedicated, interestingly, to peace and killing around 1,200 people there and taking hostages back in October 2023.
Arab countries are keen to strengthen their ties with President Trump. But, that desire has not prevented them from verbally rejecting the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza while not directly condemning Trump’s idea. Egypt and Jordan view the plan as destabilizing to their own security. The UAE, which has close ties with Israel and opposes Hamas in Gaza, has insisted that reconstruction of Gaza must be linked to the establishment of a Palestinian state. Hamas and many Palestinians have called Trump’s plan “ethnic cleansing,” but Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has hailed it.
Whatever Trump or Netanyahu think, the undeniable fact is that any post-war reconstruction of Gaza will also require Arab support to help shoulder the cost of rebuilding and the possible deployment of troops for security. While Egypt’s plan has not been made public, the state-run Al-Ahram newspaper in Cairo reported it includes carving out “safe areas” for Palestinians in Gaza to reside in as Egyptian and international companies remove rubble and rebuild infrastructure. There are also reports that the multiphase plan includes Hamas giving up governance of Gaza, though Hamas wants to have the right to maintain arms against Israel.
There is also speculation whether the plan goes far enough in addressing the concerns of Gulf Arab states which are unlikely to invest billions into rebuilding Gaza so long as the spectre of violence looms indefinitely and Israeli airstrikes remain a threat. The Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank also has its own vision of Gaza that will be presented in early March at a wider Arab League summit in Cairo.
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Meanwhile, what causes concern is the fact that there is a little over a week left in the current ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, while negotiations have not yet begun for the more complex second phase of the deal that includes full Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza, the release of all remaining Israeli hostages and a permanent end to the war. Far-Right ministers in Israel’s government want a return to war, saying Hamas has not been eliminated.
According to an assessment last week by the UN, World Bank and European Union, Gaza and the occupied West Bank need at least $53 billion for reconstruction and recovery over the next decade. A UN report says 95 per cent of Gaza’s schools have been damaged or destroyed, and 90 per cent homes and most hospitals, roads, water systems and agricultural land damaged during Israel’s military actions since October 2023.
Undoubtedly both Trump and Arab leaders need to find a common meeting ground so that a new plan of settlement brings peace in the Middle East instead of pushing it again into an unending spiral of bloodshed and destruction of life but the main thing to watch is the high level of reluctance amongst all neighbouring Moslem Arab countries towards accepting resettlement of primarily Moslem Gazans in their counties. The dislike for that bunch of people is very palpable.