GAZA: Arab states are concerned about the destabilizing effects of any such exodus, and US President Donald Trump’s proposal that Jordan and Egypt receive additional Palestinians from Gaza is causing them to be driven out of the coastal strip.
US President Donald Trump has proposed a plan to “clean out” Gaza, which has been approved by Israel. Hamas and Palestinian political leaders have responded to this proposal with rage and defiance.
Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he had discussed evicting Palestinians from Gaza with King Abdullah II of Jordan, referring to the region as a “demolition site.”
Regarding Gaza, which has a population of roughly 2.4 million, Trump stated, “You’re talking about probably a million and half people, and we just clean out that whole thing.”
Israel blocks access gates as tens of thousands wait to reenter the beleaguered enclave.
Trump stated that relocating Gaza’s residents might be “temporarily or could be long term.” He added, “I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing at a different location where they can maybe live in peace for a change.”
“I want people to go to Egypt.” He added that he would speak with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday and that he would want Jordan to bring people.
Any attempt to relocate Palestinians from Gaza would bring back painful memories of the “Nakba,” the expulsion and persecution of the Palestinian people from their homeland in order to establish Israel.
According to Sisi, Egypt had previously warned that any “forced displacement” of Palestinians into the Sinai desert could endanger the 1979 peace agreement Egypt signed with Israel.
There are around 2.3 million officially recognized Palestinian refugees in Jordan. Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi stated on Sunday that Jordan is “firm and unwavering” in its rejection of any Palestinian displacement.
Mahmud Abbas, the president of Palestine, denounced “any projects” that would force Gazans to leave the area. As they have done to similar plans “for displacement and alternative homelands over the decades,” Palestinians would “foil such projects,” according to Bassem Naim, a member of Hamas’ political council.
Under the pretext of reconstruction, as suggested by US President Trump, he claimed that Palestinians “will not accept any offers or solutions, even if their apparent intentions are good.”
Awaiting entry
On Sunday, the Israeli military barrier of the Netzarim corridor prevented tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians from going back to the northern part of the region.
Cars and carts filled with personal possessions gathered on Sunday close to the barred Netzarim corridor, which they would use to get into the north.
Tens of thousands of people were also waiting at the intersection, according to Ismail al-Thawabtah, director general of the Gaza government media office. He estimated that there were “between 615,000 and 650,000” Palestinians yearning to return to the north.
Until Arbel Yehud, an Israeli prisoner who Netanyahu’s office stated “was supposed to be released” on Saturday, is free, Israel declared it would bar Palestinians from traveling north.
