On January 25, President Donald Trump proposed that Egypt and Jordan aid in displacing and resettling the 1.8 million Palestinian refugees still living in Gaza. “You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing,” the President said at a rally in Las Vegas. On February 4, he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the Arab nations would not reject his plan—Trump threatened to withhold aid from the countries should they refuse to comply. The Palestinians would be grateful, he also claimed, to live somewhere "they can be happy and not be shot, not be killed," rather than remain in Gaza.
Trump's plan for the Palestinians consists of purchasing Gaza, displacing the Palestinians living there, and building settlements for them outside of the region. He did not specify how many refugee camps this plan would entail, nor to what extent the United States would be involved in the funding and construction process. Although Trump initially asserted that the settlements would be permanent, U.S. officials have since clarified that the relocation would be temporary. The President has not denied the possibility of deploying military troops in the area, should the United States take ownership of the Gaza Strip.
The President claims that the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict poses a threat to American national interests in the Middle East. Displacing Palestinians in Gaza would alleviate the conflict, he argues, thus stabilizing the region. U.S. presence in the Strip would also position the United States as a more involved humanitarian leader in the Middle East. With American intervention, Gaza would become a "Riviera of the Middle East." Tracy Walder, a former CIA officer and FBI agent, however, theorizes that the displacement of unwilling Palestinians would push the refugees to support “nefarious actors, such as terrorist organizations,” in turn posing more risk to American national security than reward.
While Netanyahu did not explicitly endorse American control of Gaza, he stated during a joint White House press conference that "it was worth paying attention" to the President's plan, as it would aid in Israel's national objective "to make sure that Gaza never poses a threat to Israel again." According to Netanyahu, Trump's approach to the crisis in the Gaza Strip would benefit Israel; this could strengthen the United States’ geopolitical presence in the Middle East. Since Netanyahu's meeting with Trump, Israel has begun preparations for a large-scale Palestinian exodus from Gaza, further demonstrating their compliance with and support for Trump's plan.
Critics argue that extensive involvement in Israel is not worth the cost—the State of Israel, according to these critics, does not offer the strategic geopolitical benefit to the United States that it used to. Rather, involvement further entangles the U.S. in complicated and expensive international disputes that it would be better to avoid.
Initial Arab reactions to the President's proposal were decidedly negative; Jordan and Egypt both responded quickly with intense opposition. Both countries claim that they do not have the capacity to take in the 1.8 million Palestinians. Egypt and Jordan currently host more than 700,000 refugees each. With a population of less than 12 million, Jordan has the second highest share of refugees per capita in the world.
In addition to lacking the space, Egypt has taken a stance against President Trump's plan on the basis of morality and stability. In a televised address, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi stated, “The deportation or displacement of the Palestinian people is an injustice in which we cannot participate.” He also told the press that the relocation of Palestinian refugees to Egypt would pose a risk to Egyptian national security. Egyptian academic Hani Nasira explained that accepting more Palestinian refugees could "fuel further extremism in Egypt and the broader region."
El-Sisi claimed that he remains dedicated to working with the Trump administration on fostering peace between Israel and Palestine through the two-state solution. He further clarified, "The solution is not to remove the Palestinian people from their place."
Jordanian officials echoed the same reasoning for rejecting Trump's solution. "Jordan is for Jordanians and Palestine is for Palestinians," Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi declared on January 27.
King Abdullah II of Jordan himself did not immediately respond to Trump's comments. The Monday after Trump first announced his plan, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke on the phone with King Abdullah II of Jordan about reaching a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, but did not discuss Trump's comments about relocation. Shortly after, however, the King reiterated Jordan's stance against taking in Palestinian refugees.
On February 11, the King of Jordan sat down with President Trump to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Both leaders conceded some of their initial positions. Trump backed down from his initial threat to withhold aid from Jordan, stating, "I do believe we're above that." In turn, Abdullah agreed to take in 2,000 Palestinian children. At the conclusion of the meeting, Abdullah told Trump that Jordan and Egypt would draft their own counter-proposals to Trump's plan and present them shortly. The King took to social media soon after to confirm that Jordan would stand firm in its "position against the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank."
The meeting with King Abdullah did little to smooth the rough tides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but it served to slightly realign the positions of the United States and Jordan. Egypt and Jordan are two of the most important and long-standing partners of the United States in the Arab world—both countries are categorized as Major Non-NATO Allies. Increasing the pressure for these countries to accept Palestinian refugees against their wishes could damage U.S. relations with the nations. This would weaken the United States' position in the Middle East and counter-terrorism efforts in the region.
As Egypt and Jordan draft their counter-proposals, the future of the region remains uncertain, for Palestine and the United States alike.