CAIRO: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah II stressed Wednesday the “unity” of their countries’ positions on Gaza, a day after US President Donald Trump held talks with the Jordanian monarch in Washington.
“The two leaders affirmed the unity of the Egyptian and Jordanian positions,” on the reconstruction of the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, “without displacing the Palestinian people from their land,” a statement from the Egyptian presidency read.
Another statement from the Jordanian royal court said that the two leaders stressed their “shared position” rejecting the forced displacement of Palestinians.
Both statements also referred to their willingness to “cooperate” with Trump to achieve “just and lasting peace” in the Middle East.
Egypt and Jordan have been at the forefront of a fierce Arab pushback against a Trump plan to relocate Palestinians from Gaza to the two countries.
Trump’s remarks have been coupled with a suggestion that he could “conceivably” halt aid to both countries if they refuse to take in Palestinians.
After his talks with Trump in Washington on Tuesday, King Abdullah II said that his country remains “steadfast” in its position against the forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
“This is the unified Arab position,” Abdullah wrote on social media.
Egypt announced this week that it would host a summit of Arab nations later this month. It also said it would present a “comprehensive vision” for Gaza’s reconstruction in a way that ensures Palestinians remain on their land.
Egypt and Jordan, both key US allies, are heavily reliant on foreign aid and the US is considered one of their top donors.
Egypt’s president, Jordan’s king reaffirm united Gaza stance, oppose Palestinian displacement
https://arab.news/n32cy
Egypt’s president, Jordan’s king reaffirm united Gaza stance, oppose Palestinian displacement
- Both countries have expressed willingness to help Trump achieve ‘just and lasting peace’ in the Middle East
- Egypt says it will present a ‘comprehensive vision’ for Gaza reconstruction at an Arab summit later this month
Syria’s leader set to visit Berlin with deportations in focus
- Sharaa is scheduled to meet his counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German president’s office said
BERLIN: Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa is expected in Berlin on Tuesday for talks, as German officials seek to step up deportations of Syrians, despite unease about continued instability in their homeland.
Sharaa is scheduled to meet his counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German president’s office said.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s office has yet to announce whether he would also hold talks with Sharaa during the visit.
Since ousting Syria’s longtime leader Bashar Assad in late 2024, Sharaa has made frequent overseas trips as the former Islamist rebel chief undergoes a rapid reinvention.
He has made official visits to the United States and France, and a series of international sanctions on Syria have been lifted.
The focus of next week’s visit for the German government will be on stepping up repatriations of Syrians, a priority for Merz’s conservative-led coalition since Assad was toppled.
Roughly one million Syrians fled to Germany in recent years, many of them arriving in 2015-16 to escape the civil war.
In November Merz, who fears being outflanked by the far-right AfD party on immigration, insisted there was “no longer any reason” for Syrians who fled the war to seek asylum in Germany.
“For those who refuse to return to their country, we can of course expel them,” he said.
- ‘Dramatic situation’ -
In December, Germany carried out its first deportation of a Syrian since the civil war erupted in 2011, flying a man convicted of crimes to Damascus.
But rights groups have criticized such efforts, citing continued instability in Syria and evidence of rights abuses.
Violence between the government and minority groups has repeatedly flared in multi-confessional Syria since Sharaa came to power, including recent clashes between the army and Kurdish forces.
Several NGOs, including those representing the Kurdish and Alawite Syrian communities in Germany, have urged Berlin to axe Sharaa’s planned visit, labelling it “totally unacceptable.”
“The situation in Syria is dramatic. Civilians are being persecuted solely on the basis of their ethnic or religious affiliation,” they said in a joint statement.
“It is incomprehensible to us and legally and morally unacceptable that the German government knowingly intends to receive a person suspected of being responsible for these acts at the chancellery.”
The Kurdish Community of Germany, among the signatories of that statement, also filed a complaint with German prosecutors in November, accusing Sharaa of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.
There have also been voices urging caution within government.
On a trip to Damascus in October, Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said that the potential for Syrians to return was “very limited” since the war had destroyed much of the country’s infrastructure.
But his comments triggered a backlash from his own conservative Christian Democratic Union party.
