CAIRO: Arab foreign ministers on Saturday rejected any transfer of Palestinians from their land under any circumstances, presenting a unified stance against US President Donald Trump’s call for Egypt and Jordan to take in residents of the Gaza Strip.
In a joint statement following a meeting in Cairo, the foreign ministers and officials from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, the Palestinian Authority and the Arab League said such a move would threaten stability in the region, spread conflict and undermine prospects for peace.
“We affirm our rejection of (any attempts) to compromise Palestinians’ unalienable rights, whether through settlement activities, or evictions or annex of land or through vacating the land from its owners...in any form or under any circumstances or justifications,” the joint statement read.
They were looking forward to working with Trump’s administration to achieve a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East based on a two-state solution, they added.
The Arab ministers also welcomed Egypt’s plans to hold an international conference with the United Nations that would be focused on rebuilding Gaza, which has been mostly flattened during the 15 months war between Israel and Hamas. No date has been set yet for the conference.
The six-party ministerial meeting welcomed the ceasefire agreement in Gaza and the exchange of hostages and detainees, while emphasizing the need to maintain the truce and ensure humanitarian aid reaches all parts of the Gaza Strip without obstacles, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
During the session the ministers agreed on key points including supporting the ceasefire’s full implementation and calling for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza; rejecting any attempts to divide Gaza and emphasizing the Palestinian Authority’s role in governing Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem; and defending UNRWA’s role and opposing restrictions on its operations.
They also urged global coordination for Gaza’s reconstruction to support displaced Palestinians and improve living conditions, and condemned settlements, land annexations, and displacement policies that threaten stability.
They also endorsed Egypt’s plan, in cooperation with the UN, to hold a Gaza reconstruction conference.
They again urged the international community to implement the two-state solution, with a Palestinian state based on pre-1967 borders, and supported an upcoming Saudi-French-led international conference in June 2025 to address the Palestinian issue.
The meeting came after Trump said last week that Egypt and Jordan should take in Palestinians from Gaza, which he called a “demolition site” following 15 months of Israeli bombardment that rendered most of its 2.3 million people homeless. Critics have called his suggestion tantamount to ethnic cleansing.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on Wednesday rejected the idea that Egypt would facilitate the displacement of Gazans and said Egyptians would take to the streets to express their disapproval.
However, on Thursday, Trump reiterated the idea, saying: “We do a lot for them, and they are going to do it,” in apparent reference to abundant US aid, including military assistance, to both Egypt and Jordan.
Jordan is already home to several million Palestinians, while tens of thousands live in Egypt. The foreign ministries of Egypt and Jordan have both rejected Trump’s suggestion in recent days.
* With Reuters
