Leaders of Gulf states are meeting with their Egyptian and Jordanian counterparts to counter US President Donald Trump’s proposal to redevelop Gaza under US control, displacing its Palestinian residents. The meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, is part of a broader Arab summit early next month.
Trump’s plan, which he has reframed as a challenge to leaders of the Middle East, includes developing Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East” and relocating Palestinian residents to neighboring countries like Egypt and Jordan. The proposal was met with astonishment and outrage across the Arab world.
Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates are working together to forge an alternative idea for Gaza in which Arab countries would help fund and oversee reconstruction, while keeping the two million Palestinian residents in place and preserving the possibility of a Palestinian state. However, key sticking points remain, including postwar governance in Gaza.
The proposed Egyptian plan includes a committee of Palestinian technocrats and community leaders who could run Gaza after the war. But Israeli leaders have said they would oppose any plans that would pave the way to Palestinian sovereignty. Arab leaders insist they would support only a proposal that at least nominally forges a path toward Palestinian statehood.
A key sticking point is postwar governance, with Arab leaders wanting the blessing of the Palestinian Authority. However, the authority’s president, Mahmoud Abbas, has appeared wary of any plan that does not give him full control of Gaza. Hamas officials have refused to say they would disband their military wing, an unacceptable position for both Israel and Trump.
The meeting in Riyadh brings together Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and King Abdullah of Jordan, along with members of the Gulf Cooperation Council. The Arab plan will focus on ideas that keep Palestinians inside Gaza, counter to Trump’s call to relocate them to neighboring countries.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/21/world/middleeast/arab-leaders-plan-gaza.html