Earlier this month, the American president proposed expelling 2.1 million Palestinians from Gaza and transforming the enclave into a “riviera” that would be owned by the United States, a plan that triggered outrage across the Middle East and firm rejections by regional leaders.
Arab leaders are expected to gather for a wider summit in Cairo on March 4 where a “road map” for Gaza and the conflict is expected to be issued. Arab top diplomats are then expected to travel to the US capital in the following weeks to deliver the proposal to the Trump administration, the sources said.
Arab officials want to make sure it is “a solid plan” before presenting it to Trump, one of the sources said.
In addition to laying out a plan for rebuilding the devastated strip without displacing the population, the Arab counterproposal would also address key issues such as governing Gaza after the war, reforming the Palestinian Authority and the deployment of either peacekeeping or peace enforcing forces inside the strip, the sources said.
It’s unclear who the peacekeeping force would be comprised of.
Last week, Arab leaders held a rare “informal” meeting in the Saudi capital Riyadh to discuss the plan – a gathering that the sources said was “significant” and at which there was “a unified stance.”
Jordan and Egypt – two countries that Trump said were candidates for receiving the Palestinians – reject any displacement and consider it a matter of national security.
“Our position is firm and clear and we won’t accept any threat to our national security,” one official said, describing it as a “red line” for Jordan.
For months, officials in Jordan have warned against attempts to displace Palestinians to the country. The Jordanian foreign minister said in September last year after an Israeli escalation in the West Bank that any attempt to displace Palestinians there to Jordan would be considered a “declaration of war.”
Jordanian officials are also concerned about an explosion in violence in the West Bank and Jerusalem during the Holy Month of Ramadan, which is expected to start on Friday or Saturday.
Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly claimed last week that his country could fully rebuild Gaza in three years to a state that is “better than it was before,” without saying how he planned to achieve that. If a permanent ceasefire is reached in Gaza in the coming months, that would mean the vision could be completed before the end of Trump’s presidential term.
The World Bank, the European Union and the United Nations said in a joint statement last week that, according to their estimates, just the return of essential services including health and education, as well as the clearing of rubble, would take three years. The full rebuilding of the devastated enclave would need 10 years and cost more than $50 billion, with housing alone estimated to cost $15 billion. The Egyptian prime minister said that his country’s plan takes those assessments into consideration.