By Janet Ekstract ISTANBUL – While Gaza remains in the midst of a humanitarian crisis with the majority of the country in ruins, U.S. President Donald Trump is seeking to resettle millions of Palestinians outside Gaza. Human rights groups and humanitarian organizations are sounding the alarm on Trump’s proposal while analysts point out that neighboring Arab countries aren’t likely to agree to the proposal. Trump has suggested that Egypt and Jordan take in Palestinian refugees but both countries currently host large populations of refugees and favor a two-state solution for Palestine and Israel as do its regional neighbors like Turkiye, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. Jordan already hosts over two million Palestinian refugees – the majority have Jordanian citizenship. Meanwhile, according to political analysts, the far-right in Israel wants to keep Gaza and the West Bank but the Jordanian monarchy staunchly rejects such a suggestion.
The conundrum, as experts on the Middle East, see it, is that fact that Jordan and Egypt both receive billions of dollars in American aid, annually from the U.S. – Egypt is already contending with a serious economic crisis. If either country were to agree to such a proposal, experts predict that such a move could be destabilizing. Egypt currently hosts nine million migrants including refugees from Sudan’s civil war. Jordan who has a population of less than 12 million also already hosts over 700,000 refugees who are primarily of Syrian origin. Observers in the region explain that any pressure by the U.S. risks alienating key allies in the region that Trump already has good relations with. The leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye as well as Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Egypt’s el-Sissi all support a two-state solution for the Palestinians. A major consideration for Trump is the historic agreement he still wants to broker between Saudi Arabia and Israel to normalize relations
No immediate comments have been forthcoming from officials in Egypt, Jordan, Israel or Palestinian officials. Israel has already been accused of ethnic cleansing by human rights groups as well as by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC). U.N. experts define ethnic cleansing as a policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove the civilian population of another group from certain areas “by violent and terror-inspiring means.” Palestinians view this war in Gaza as a new Nakba with entire neighborhoods wiped out and 90 percent of the people forced from their homes. The real fear is that if Palestinians are forced to leave Gaza that they may never be able to return. What the international community’s response will be is uncertain but the world is watching with trepidation.
