Arab states reject Trump plan for Gaza, Egyptian minister Abdelatty tells Rubio
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio shakes hands with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty in Washington on Feb 10.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
WASHINGTON - Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Feb 10 that Arab states support Palestinians in rejecting US President Donald Trump's plan to displace Palestinians in Gaza and take control of the enclave.
In a statement, Egypt's Foreign Ministry said Mr Abdelatty, in a meeting in Washington, stressed the importance of expediting Gaza's reconstruction while Palestinians remain there.
A statement by the US State Department after the meeting did not explicitly mention Mr Trump’s plan but added that Mr Rubio “reiterated the importance of close cooperation to advance post-conflict planning for the governance and security of Gaza and stressed Hamas can never govern Gaza or threaten Israel again.”
Mr Abdelatty, who arrived in Washington on Feb 9, said he was looking forward to working with the new US administration to achieve “comprehensive and just peace and stability” in the region, according to Egypt’s foreign ministry’s statement.
He also met with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff in a separate meeting, where he echoed similar statements, the foreign ministry said.
Any suggestion that Palestinians leave Gaza, which they want as part of an independent state, has been anathema to the Palestinian leadership for generations and neighbouring Arab states have rejected it since the Gaza war began in 2023.
Mr Trump first suggested on Jan 25 that Egypt and Jordan should take in Palestinians from Gaza US takeover of Gaza
His comments echoed long-standing Palestinian fears of being permanently driven from their homes and have been labeled by rights advocates and the United Nations as a proposal of ethnic cleansing.
Israel’s military assault on Gaza, now paused by a fragile ceasefire, has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians in the last 16 months, the Gaza health ministry says, and provoked accusations of genocide and war crimes that Israel denies.
The assault internally displaced nearly all of Gaza’s population and caused a hunger crisis.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on October 7, 2023, when Palestinian Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking some 250 hostages, Israeli tallies show. REUTERS
