Egyptian officials have warned that the peace treaty with Israel is at risk should Trump push for the expulsion of Gazans into Egypt [Getty]
Egypt is mounting a frantic bid to assemble a unified Arab front against Donald Trump’s plan to expel Palestinians from Gaza.
The US president has repeatedly told Egypt and Jordan to take in Gaza’s 2.2 million inhabitants, and on Tuesday said he had planned to seize control of the territory and reconstruct it into an international tourist resort.
In response, Egypt’s top diplomat, Badr Abdel Aty, has embarked on a flurry of diplomatic activity in the past hours, speaking to the foreign ministers of 11 countries in the region about how to respond to the situation, the Foreign Ministry said on Friday.
The discussions emphasised “the constants of the Arab position on the Palestinian cause, which rejects any measures aimed at displacing the Palestinian people from their land, or encouraging their transfer to other countries,” the statement said.
The forcible displacement of Gaza’s population would constitute a “flagrant violation of international law” and pose a “threat to security and stability in the region,” the ministry added.
The leaders of Egypt and Jordan have both rebuffed Trump’s demand for them to accept Palestinians.
Egypt’s president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi last week said the ethnic cleansing of Gaza “can never be tolerated or allowed because of its impact on Egyptian national security”, describing it as an “injustice which we cannot participate in”.
Following Trump’s statement on Tuesday, Jordan’s King Abdullah “expressed rejection of any attempts to annex land and displace Palestinians”.
The king will travel to Washington next week to hold talks with Trump. Sisi will reportedly be in the US capital the following week.
Behind closed doors, both governments have reportedly warned that their peace treaties with Israel are at stake should Trump and Netanyahu persevere.
Jordanian army and security chiefs are reportedly preparing a range of contingency plans, including suspending their 1994 treaty with Israel and declaring war.
In Egypt, officials have warned the US, Israel and its Western European allies that Trump’s plan jeopardises the Camp David treaty, The Associated Press reported this week.
One Western diplomat remarked that Egypt is serious and views the plan as a national security threat.
There are disagreements among the country’s presidency, military and intelligence services about how to respond, though they are united in rejecting Trump’s plan, Egyptian security sources say.
Trump’s announcement was rejected by key US and Israeli allies, with Germany, France and the UK all coming out in opposition to the plan.
Despite the backlash, the US president has doubled down, saying on Thursday that Israel will hand over Gaza to the US after the war and that Palestinians will be “resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities” elsewhere in the region.
His secretary of state, Marco Rubio, is due to visit Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE next week.
The far-right Israeli government has seized on Trump’s comments and on Thursday instructed the army to begin preparations for what it called the “voluntary” displacement of Palestinians from Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity – called the plan “remarkable” and said it should be “examined, pursued, and done”.
