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Leaders of Gulf states met with their Egyptian and Jordanian counterparts to strategize before a broader Arab summit early next month.
Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip this month. Arab leaders met on Friday to discuss an alternative to President Trump’s idea for the future of Gaza. Credit… Saher Alghorra for The New York Times Feb. 21, 2025 Updated 5:10 p.m. ET
The leaders of Gulf Arab states met on Friday to strategize with their Egyptian and Jordanian counterparts in an effort to counter President Trump’s controversial proposal to redevelop Gaza under U.S. control and displace its Palestinian residents.
The meeting in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, was in preparation for a broader Arab League summit in Egypt on March 4. It ended after several hours of discussions, particularly of the nations’ “joint efforts in support of the Palestinian cause and developments in the Gaza Strip,” according to a statement from the Saudi government.
Mr. Trump’s suggestion this month that the United States might take control of Gaza, develop it into the “Riviera of the Middle East” and relocate its Palestinian residents to neighboring countries like Egypt and Jordan was met with astonishment and outrage across the Arab world. His aides then reframed it as a challenge to leaders of the Middle East to come up with a better alternative, even as Mr. Trump continued to insist he could convince the two countries to accept Palestinians.
“All these countries say how much they care about the Palestinians,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week. “If the Arab countries have a better plan, then that’s great.”
Then, Arab governments scrambled to come up with one.
Mr. Trump appeared to concede on Friday that his efforts at persuasion had failed and that refusals by Egypt and Jordan to accept displaced Gazans would make the idea unworkable.
“Well, we pay Jordan and Egypt billions of dollars a year. And I was a little surprised they’d say that, but they did,” Mr. Trump said in a telephone interview with the Fox News host Brian Kilmeade. He added: “I’ll tell you, the way to do it is my plan. I think that’s the plan that really works. But I’m not forcing it. I’m just going to sit back and recommend it.”
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