The joint statement reaffirmed the need for a two-state solution and roundly rejected any attempt to relocate Palestinians out of their homeland.
Leading Arab nations are formally rejecting a push by President Donald Trump to relocate Palestinians from war-torn Gaza to Egypt and Jordan.
In a joint statement released on Feb. 1, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, the Palestinian Authority, and the Arab League formally dismissed any plan to move Palestinians out of their homeland.
The statement affirmed the nations’ commitment to a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict and summarily rejected any attempt to remove Palestinians’ rights to the land “whether through settlement activities, expulsion and demolition of homes, or annexation of land, or by evacuating that land of its owners through displacement or encouraging the transfer or uprooting of Palestinians from their land in any way.”
The statement further thanked the United States for its role in securing a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas.
The move follows international outrage at comments made by Trump last month, suggesting that Egypt, Jordan, and other Arab nations accept more Palestinian refugees to clear out the Gaza Strip.
“You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say, ‘You know, it’s over,’” Trump told reporters on Jan. 25.
The forced displacement of civilians in an occupied territory is prohibited by international law and has been recognized as a war crime since the end of World War II.
The Arab statement warned that such plans “threaten the region’s stability, risk expanding the conflict, and undermine prospects for peace and coexistence among its peoples.”
The statement followed a meeting in Cairo of top diplomats from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar, as well as Hussein al-Sheikh, a senior Palestinian official who serves as the main liaison with Israel, and Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul-Gheit.
They said they were looking forward to working with the Trump administration to “achieve a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East, based on the two-state solution,” and called for the international community to help “plan and implement” a comprehensive reconstruction plan for Gaza.
