Arab States Block Trump's Ambitions to Take Over Gaza

DUBAI, FRIDAY - The idea of United States President Donald Trump to take over the Gaza Strip has united Arab countries in agreement to oppose it. Leaders from Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates gathered in Riyadh on Friday (21/2/2025).

However, there is no final agreement on the “counter-plan” from the Arab countries. There is no post-war reconstruction plan for Gaza, especially regarding who will govern Gaza and how the reconstruction will be funded.

Trump's Gaza plan sparked global outrage when he proposed the US "take over" the Strip and relocate its more than two million residents to Egypt and Jordan. Both countries have rejected the idea, citing national security concerns, especially the Hamas element.

Jordan fears that the planned relocation of Gazans will fuel radicalism that will spread chaos in the Middle East and endanger Jordan's peace with Israel. But there is another problem: Egypt and Jordan are heavily dependent on U.S. financial and military support. The Gulf Arab states need the U.S. for their security umbrella. So they may not be able to take a hard line with Trump.

Separately, US Middle East envoy Steven Witkoff said Trump's idea for Gaza was not about expelling Palestinians, but rather about creating a better future for Palestinians.

“Trump’s idea of Gaza is more about trying a different solution than what’s been done before. Gaza is devastated and it’s impossible to rebuild. It’s going to take a lot of cleaning and a lot of repair. But it’s not about eviction. It’s about figuring out what’s the best solution for the Palestinian people,” Witkoff told a conference in Miami.

A Saudi government source told AFP news agency that there would be no final statement from the meeting of Arab leaders because the discussions were confidential.

There are photos circulating of the meeting showing Saudi Arabia's de facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman along with other Arab leaders, namely Jordan's King Abdullah and Crown Prince Hussein, Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and his national security adviser, Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmad al-Sabah, and Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa.

Sources in Saudi Arabia said leaders discussed Egypt's Gaza plan. When meeting with Trump in Washington, US, on February 11, 2025, Jordan's King Abdullah II said Egypt would present a plan for Gaza's future.

Saudi Arabia's official SPA news agency said the decisions taken at the informal meeting would be included in the agenda of an emergency Arab League meeting to be held on March 4, 2025, in Egypt. There were no details of Egypt's proposed Gaza plan, but former Egyptian diplomat Mohamed Hegazy outlined a plan in three technical phases over a period of 3-5 years.

The first phase will last six months and focus on “early recovery” and debris removal. The second phase will require an international conference to establish a detailed plan for reconstruction and infrastructure recovery.

Meanwhile, the final phase will examine the provision of housing and services and the establishment of a “political path to implement a two-state solution” with an independent Palestine side by side with Israel.

A Saudi diplomat familiar with the matter said the biggest challenge facing the Egyptian plan is funding. “It makes no sense for Arab leaders to meet without reaching a common vision. The most important thing is the vision and the ability to implement it,” he said.

Saudi foreign policy expert Umer Karim said the meeting was the most important meeting in decades for the Arab world, especially for the Palestinian issue. The success of the plan requires extraordinary and unprecedented Arab unity and solidarity.

"Some countries like Kuwait will inject money, maybe for security reasons. But other Gulf countries will set specific conditions before the money is transferred. Saudi Arabia and the UAE will not release money if Qatar and Egypt do not guarantee something for Hamas," he said.

Qatar, which is a mediator in the Israel-Hamas conflict, insists that Palestine itself must decide the future of Gaza. Meanwhile, Egypt, in its plan, envisions Gaza politically and legally under the Palestinian Authority. That is also what Saudi Arabia envisions.

Egypt also envisions a police force affiliated with the Palestinian Authority equipped with personnel support from Egypt, Arab countries and other countries. However, this is also still being debated.

"I think all regional actors understand that any alternative plan they propose cannot include Hamas in any way, because the presence of Hamas would make the plan unpalatable to the US and Israeli governments. Overall, some things in the Gaza Strip have to change fundamentally for this plan to have at least a chance," Karim said.

Political observer from King's College London, England, Andreas Krieg, said that this could actually be an opportunity for Saudi Arabia to unite all Arab countries that are members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), plus Egypt and Jordan.

The GCC is a regional intergovernmental organization whose members are Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. “We are at a historical point in the Arab-Israeli or Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The US under Trump has the potential to create new problems,” Krieg said.

Much of the Gaza Strip was destroyed after a 15-month war between Israel and Hamas. The United Nations estimates the reconstruction process will likely cost at least $53 billion.

From the source of Reuters news agency, it is known that at the meeting of Arab countries, Egypt's plan was discussed which could include funding of up to 20 billion US dollars over three years. It is likely that the funds will be obtained from wealthy Gulf and Arab countries but there has been no official confirmation.

Key U.S. allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have ruled out moving Palestinians from Gaza, insisting that peace efforts must include a Palestinian state living alongside Israel.

Palestinians and others in the region worry that Trump's plan would destabilize the region and repeat the "Nakba," or catastrophe, of the 1948 war that created Israel. At the time, some 800,000 Palestinians fled or were forced from their homes.

Many have been forced to flee to refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Palestinians say they face discrimination in some of these countries. They often complain of being neglected by Arab countries. But Arab countries have repeatedly said they are doing their best to advance the Palestinian cause. (REUTERS/AFP)