An “expanded Arab meeting” may be held in Algeria before the extraordinary Arab League summit in Cairo on 4 March, a diplomatic source from the body has told The New Arab‘s Arabic language edition Al-Araby Al-Jadeed on Wednesday.
The meeting aimed to agree on recommendations and general principles for the Cairo summit, the source said, with the agenda focusing on Palestinians’ right to return and other issues regarding Palestinian self-determination.
“The preliminary agenda being circulated among invited states focuses on reaffirming United Nations resolutions on Palestine, including the right of return, the prohibition of Israeli settlement expansion, and the Palestinian people’s right to liberation,” the source said.
Algeria is spearheading the push for the expanded meeting and has received backing from regional non-Arab actors, including Turkey.
Several Arab nations are also supporting the initiative, opposing any efforts to pressure Palestinian resistance groups into disarmament without concrete commitments or guarantees ensuring an end to Israeli occupation and the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Egypt announced on Wednesday that the extraordinary AL summit, scheduled for 27 February in Cairo, was delayed to 4 March due to logistical reasons.
However, sources told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the delay was intended to give Arab leaders more time to formulate a unified stance on Gaza’s future, ensure broader participation from Arab leaders, and facilitate discussions with key Palestinian factions.
Meanwhile, a five-way Arab meeting which was planned for Thursday in Riyadh was postponed to Friday.
Arab nations have mounted a fierce pushback against US President Donald Trump‘s plan to relocate Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt and Jordan, banding together in a rare united front.
Across the region, even Washington’s closest friends have recoiled at the proposal, with countries including Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Qatar trying to block it.
Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit last week said the likely prospect of Palestinian displacement from Gaza and the West Bank “is unacceptable for the Arab world, which has fought this idea for 100 years”.
“We Arabs are not about to capitulate in any way now,” he said at the World Governments Summit in Dubai.
Over the past two weeks, Trump has insisted on his proposal to “just clean out” Gaza, which the US says it would control, while the enclave’s 2.4 million inhabitants would be displaced to Egypt and Jordan.
