US President Donald Trump has doubled down on his proposal to “clean out” Gaza by removing Palestinians living there to Jordan and Egypt, a plan which has appalled some allies but has been quickly embraced by Israel’s far right.
Having first floated the idea Saturday, Trump warmed to his theme Monday, saying of Gaza’s population: “I’d like to get them living in an area where they can live without disruption and revolution and violence so much.”
He has not specified whether such emigration would be voluntary. The forcible displacement of civilians “can constitute a war crime and/or crime against humanity” depending on the context, according to the United Nations.
“I think you can get people living in areas that are a lot safer and maybe a lot better and maybe a lot more comfortable,” he said on Monday.
While there has been no response from the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, the idea was applauded by far-right Israeli politicians.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who leads the Religious Zionism party, said Trump had recognized that Gaza was “a breeding ground for terror,” and “there is no doubt that in the long run, encouraging migration is the only solution that will bring peace and security to the residents of Israel and alleviate the suffering of Gaza’s Arab residents.”
Smotrich, who also has a ministerial position in the defense ministry, said he was working on a plan to implement Trump’s vision. “When he wants something, it happens,” he said. Smotrich has been advocating for what he calls “the voluntary emigration of Gaza Arabs to countries around the world” since 2023.
But the idea of displacement, voluntary or otherwise, is horrifying to Jordan and Egypt and likely alarming to other Arab allies of the US, threatening decades of international consensus about the right of Palestinians to a homeland. Ayman Safadi, Jordan’s foreign minister, said Sunday: “Jordan is for Jordanians and Palestine is for Palestinians.”
“Our rejection for the deportation is steadfast and unchanging.”
Trump said the removal of Palestinians might be temporary or “long-term,” but Arab critics allege that Palestinians have never been allowed by Israel to return to land once removed.
Neither Egypt nor Jordan would contemplate being party to a repeat of the Palestinian ‘Nakba’ or ‘catastrophe’ in 1948. Roughly 700,000 Palestinians were forced from their homes when the state of Israel was born. A second iteration would be tantamount to condoning and supporting ethnic cleansing.
Much like Denmark hopes Trump will abandon his ideas for US control of Greenland, the moderate Arab states will be praying that the US President forgets about transferring the Gazans.
The comparison was not lost on Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who said in an interview with Sky News Tuesday that “Palestine cannot be deleted and Palestinians cannot be expelled. My suggestion: Instead of Palestinians, try to expel Israelis to Greenland. Take them to Greenland so you can kill two birds (with) one stone.”
Saudi-UAE silence
Jordan and Egypt seem likely to huddle with their allies in the Gulf, especially Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, in an effort to present a united front.
So far, the Saudis and Emiratis have remained publicly silent on the Trump plan. King Abdullah II of Jordan has also said nothing about his call with Trump on Saturday. But the Jordanian court pointedly released a read-out of his call Monday with new Secretary of State Marco Rubio, which may have been an effort at damage limitation.
The statement said they discussed ways to “enhance regional security and stability…and means to strengthen the strategic partnership between Jordan and the United States, as well as keenness to maintain coordination and consultation on various issues.”
The response from Cairo was more puzzling. A senior Egyptian official denied that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi had spoken with Trump, despite the latter’s assertion Monday that they had spoken. Trump declined to say directly if the Egyptian president had an opinion on taking additional Palestinian refugees.
“He’s in a very rough part of the world, to be honest, as they say, it’s a rough neighborhood, but I think he can do it,” Trump said.
The Egyptian official added that readouts between the Egyptian president and heads of state are released when they take place. The Egyptian Presidency itself has made no comment about any call and the White House hasn’t released a readout.
Trump also appears to have nodded towards the belief among some Israelis that Gaza isn’t really Palestinian land anyway.
“You know, when you look at the Gaza Strip, it’s been hell for so many years, and it just seems to be this – various civilizations start here, started thousands of years before,” he said Monday.
That fits right in with the perspective of people like the former Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir, who leads the Jewish Power party.
Foreign aid as potential leverage
After a year of transformative upheaval in the Middle East, even the idea that millions of Palestinians might be moved from their homes is potentially a source of still greater instability. Sisi has previously said that taking in Gazans would threaten Egypt’s peace agreement with Israel because of the risk that some of them would resume fighting the Jewish state from within his country’s borders.
The risk is existential to Jordan, which has more than a million refugees from neighboring countries as well as about 2.4 million registered Palestinian refugees. Indeed, more than half of its inhabitants are of Palestinian descent, and its demography would be transformed by another influx. But Jordan cannot afford to dismiss Trump’s idea out of hand. A country of few resources, its 2023 budget deficit stood at 5.1% of its economic output, and a fifth of its workforce is unemployed. It is heavily reliant on foreign aid and is the second biggest recipient of US aid in the Middle East after Israel, with more than $1.7 billion delivered in 2023.
Trump has already moved to put foreign aid and tariffs at the center of a foreign policy whose first tenets have been more stick than carrot. That will not be lost on the Jordanian and Egyptian governments now in the crosshairs. Egypt is the region’s third-biggest recipient of US aid, with $1.5 billion delivered in 2023.
“I wish he would take some,” Trump said of Sisi on Monday, referring to Gazans. “We help them a lot, and I’m sure he can help us, he’s a friend of mine.”
Were Trump to persist with the idea, the prospect of extending the Abraham Accords to include normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia – a centerpiece of his Middle East policy – would also be jeopardized. While Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has close personal ties with Trump, he has repeatedly made clear that normalization is linked to a pathway to a Palestinian state. Emptying Gaza would not fit with that priority.