Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will not travel to Washington for talks at the White House if the agenda includes US President Donald Trump’s plan to expel Palestinians from Gaza [Getty]
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will not travel to Washington for talks at the White House if the agenda includes US President Donald Trump’s plan to expel Palestinians from Gaza, two Egyptian security sources told Reuters on Wednesday.
In a call between Trump and Sisi on 1 February, the US president extended an open invitation to Sisi to visit the White House, the Egyptian presidency previously said. No date has been set for any such visit, a US official said.
Trump has infuriated the Arab world with a plan to permanently expel the population of more than two million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, claim US control of Gaza and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.
He has demanded Egypt and Jordan take in the Palestinians who would be expelled.
He discussed the plan during a visit by Jordanian King Abdullah to the White House on Tuesday, where the monarch appeared uncomfortable.
Trump has threatened to cut US aid to Egypt and Jordan if they refuse to accept displaced Palestinians from Gaza.
Sisi has repeatedly said that Egypt would never participate in a large displacement of Palestinians across the border.
Sisi and King Abdullah stressed on Wednesday the “unity” of their countries’ positions on Gaza.
“The two leaders affirmed the unity of the Egyptian and Jordanian positions, including the necessity of the full implementation of the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, the continued release of hostages and prisoners and facilitating the entry of humanitarian aid,” a statement from the Egyptian presidency said.
It stressed the need for the “immediate start of the reconstruction process in the Gaza Strip, without displacing the Palestinian people from their land”.
The two countries are expected to take part in a five-way summit with leaders from Qatar, Saudi Arabi and the UAE ahead of the emergency Arab Summit in Cairo on 27 February, sources told Al-Araby TV.
A senior Palestinian official speaking to Haaretz said that while a unified stance against the forcible expulsion of Palestinians is crucial, there needs to be a clear outline on who will “manage and reconstruct” the beseiged enclave.Â
“Will Hamas control Gaza, and if not, will the Palestinian Authority? How can this be implemented, how to move forward in the reconstruction process and also in the political process, if at all? These questions still have no answer,” the diplomat said.
The Geneva Conventions, which both the US and Israel have ratified, prohibit the forcible relocation of populations.
Netanyahu is already wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
More than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed in the 15 months since he declared war on Gaza. According to the UN agency, OCHA, almost all of the homes in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed.
Despite these losses, Palestinians in Gaza have strongly rejected any resettlement plan, stating their determination not to allow Israel to successfully execute another Nakba.
