President Trump insisted Tuesday that america has the authority to “take” Gaza and that different international locations within the area will take up the Palestinians who at the moment stay there, talking as he sat beside Jordan’s king within the Oval Workplace.
“We could have Gaza,” Mr. Trump mentioned. “It’s a war-torn space. We’re going to take it. We’re going to carry it. We’re going to cherish it.”
The remarks — made at an impromptu gaggle with reporters referred to as in abruptly initially of the bilateral assembly between the 2 leaders — represented a brand new type of stress on King Abdullah II, who sought to reward Mr. Trump as a power for peace within the area whereas avoiding touch upon a barely fashioned proposal that the president has repeatedly floated up to now week.
Their assembly, together with Jordan’s Crown Prince Hussein, got here per week after Mr. Trump declared that he wished the U.S. to grab management of Gaza and wished Jordan and Egypt to resettle the roughly two million Palestinians who could be displaced.
Each Jordan and Egypt rejected the thought when Mr. Trump raised it final week at a information convention with Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, However on Tuesday, King Abdullah largely demurred when requested by reporters in regards to the prospect of forcibly displacing Gazans to permit america to take over the territory.
Reasonably than push again on Mr. Trump’s proposal, King Abdullah mentioned the 2 nations ought to seek the advice of with different Arab nations, together with Egypt.
“I feel the purpose is, how will we make this work in a approach that’s good for everyone,” King Abdullah mentioned. “Clearly we’ve got to take a look at the very best pursuits of america, of the folks within the area, particularly to my folks of Jordan.”
The assembly with King Abdullah amounted to not solely a pivotal second for a key ally within the Center East however extra broadly for the way forward for Gaza and the roughly two million Palestinians who name it residence.
Mr. Trump in latest days has dug in on his unbelievable proposal to completely resettle most Palestinians to Jordan and Egypt, whereas america could be handed management of the territory by Israel after which redevelop it right into a hub for jobs and tourism.
Officers in each Jordan and Egypt have rejected the pressured displacement of Gazans, which students have mentioned would quantity to a violation of worldwide regulation and ethnic cleaning. Mr. Trump, nonetheless, ramped up stress on Egypt and Jordan on the eve of King Abdullah’s go to when he mentioned he might minimize support to Jordan until it took in Palestinians.
Mr. Trump has privately been speaking in regards to the notion of america taking management of Gaza for a number of weeks, in accordance with a number of individuals who have spoken with him.
King Abdullah now faces the troublesome process of making an attempt to guard the greater than $1.5 billion in international support Jordan receives from america whereas additionally making an attempt to get Mr. Trump to again off his calls for for the mass elimination of Palestinians.
Greater than half of King Abdullah’s 12 million topics are of Palestinian descent. Jordan is already residence to roughly 700,000 refugees, most of them Syrians who fled from that nation’s civil struggle. The monarchy is worried that accepting an inflow of one other roughly two million refugees might inflame tensions between residents of Palestinian descent and those that usually are not, analysts say.
Mr. Abdullah might attempt to persuade Mr. Trump that his hope to maneuver Palestinians out of Gaza would complicate his administration’s broader efforts to get Saudi Arabia to hitch Mr. Trump’s 2020 Abraham Accords, which established formal ties between Israel and 4 Arab international locations.
The delicate cease-fire truce between Hamas and Israel additionally hung over the assembly after the militant group threatened to delay the discharge of some hostages on Saturday if Israel didn’t ship extra support to Gaza. Hamas has accused Israel of breaking a promise of sending lots of of hundreds of tents into Gaza, a declare that three Israeli officers and two mediators mentioned had been correct. Mr. Trump responded by threatening “all hell” if Hamas didn’t launch each hostage
