By John Irish
MUNICH (Reuters) – Arab countries are putting together a plan that would rebuild Gaza without displacing its people, guarantee security and governance, Jordan’s foreign minister said on Friday, adding that his country could not take more Palestinians.
Arab countries were dismayed earlier this month after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a plan to “clean out” Palestinians from Gaza and resettle most of them in Jordan and Egypt, an idea immediately rejected by Cairo and Amman and seen in most of the region as deeply destabilising.
“Just to answer you unequivocally, 35% of our population are refugees, we cannot afford any more, we cannot have Palestinians coming to Jordan. They don’t want to come to Jordan and we don’t want them to come to Jordan,” Ayman Safadi said at the Munich Security Conference.
Jordan’s King Abdullah’s travelled to Washington on February 11, where he reiterated his country’s “steadfast position” against Trump’s plan.
According to two European diplomatic sources aware of the meeting, the King told Trump that the Arab plan would be “cheaper and faster” than Trump’s proposal, something that the American leader seemed receptive to.
“We are working on an Arab proposal that will show that we can rebuild Gaza without displacing its people, that we can have a plan that will guarantee security and governance,” Safadi said, adding that Israel also had to think about how it wanted to see the region in 10 or 20 years time.
“Israelis also have to think long-term. For it to live in peace and security, its neighbours need to live in peace and security,” he said.
Saudi Arabia is spearheading urgent Arab efforts to develop a plan for Gaza’s future as a counter to U.S. President Donald Trump’s ambition for a Middle East Riviera cleared of its Palestinian inhabitants, 10 sources have told Reuters.
Safadi warned that while the focus was on Gaza, there was a real danger of escalation in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Israel, viewing the West Bank as part of a multi-front war against Iranian-backed groups established around its borders, launched the operation after reaching a ceasefire in its war in Gaza against the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Thousands of Palestinians have fled West Bank homes in the wake of the military campaign and widespread destruction.
“The West Bank is a powder keg that could explode,” Safadi said.
(Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Toby Chopra)
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