Five Arab foreign ministers and a senior Palestinian official have sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio opposing the relocation of Palestinians from Gaza.
The letter, obtained by Axios, urges that Palestinians be involved in the rebuilding of Gaza following the Israel-Hamas war, which is currently under a fragile ceasefire while hostages taken during Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack are being released in stages.
This letter represents a united effort by Arab nations to discourage U.S. President Donald Trump from his repeated proposals to move Palestinians to Egypt, Jordan and other countries during Gaza’s reconstruction.
The letter, signed by the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt and Jordan, as well as by Palestinian Authority adviser Hussein al-Sheikh, warns that further displacement could destabilize the region.
They stressed that Palestinians should take the lead in rebuilding Gaza with international support, and cautioned against Israeli deportation of Palestinians, viewing it as an escalation of the conflict.
The Arab ministers reaffirmed their commitment to a two-state solution as the path to peace and security for both Israel and the Palestinians, offering support for a resolution in line with President Trump’s vision.
Arab countries and the P.A. published a similar joint statement on Saturday rejecting Trump’s proposal.
The foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE published the statement following a summit meeting in Cairo, according to the Associated Press.
The statement also represents the official position of the Arab League, a regional organization with 22 member states, the document said.
“We affirm our rejection of [any attempts] to compromise Palestinians’ unalienable rights, whether through settlement activities, or evictions or [annexations] of land or through vacating the land from its owners … in any form or under any circumstances or justifications,” the statement read.
The move could “threaten the region’s stability, risk expanding the conflict, and undermine prospects for peace and coexistence among its peoples,” the text continued.
Last week, Trump said he had asked Jordan’s King Abdullah II to take in more Palestinians from Gaza, where entire neighborhoods have been destroyed during the 15 months of fighting between Hamas and Israel.
“I said to him that I’d love you to take on more, because I’m looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now and it’s a mess, it’s a real mess,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One.
“It’s literally a demolition site right now. Almost everything’s demolished, and people are dying there, so I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing in a different location where I think they could maybe live in peace for a change,” he continued.
He added that he had also asked Egypt to take in Gazans.
The proposal was immediately rejected by Egypt and Jordan, with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi saying: “Our refusal of displacement is a steadfast position that will not change. Jordan is for Jordanians, and Palestine is for Palestinians.”
Palestinians currently account for more than 70% of the population of Jordan, which is ruled by the Hashemite royal house, whose origins are in the Arabian Peninsula.
