Rubio says US keen for Arab ideas on Gaza
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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he believes Arab states are “working in good faith” on a Gaza proposal.
PHOTO: AFP
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WASHINGTON – US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Feb 13 that the United States is eager to hear new proposals by Arab states on Gaza, after President Donald Trump’s stunning plan to displace the territory’s entire population
Mr Rubio left on Feb 13 on a trip that will take him to Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, after a first stop at the Munich Security Conference where he will join delicate talks on Ukraine alongside Vice-President J.D. Vance.
The trip comes after discussions in Washington on Mr Trump’s Gaza plan by Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Egypt’s foreign minister.
“Hopefully, they’re going to have a really good plan to present to the President,” Mr Rubio said of Arab states.
“Right now, the only plan – they don’t like it – but the only plan is the Trump plan. So if they’ve got a better plan, now’s the time to present it,” he told the radio show of conservative hosts Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.
Mr Trump has warned of repercussions to neighbours Egypt and Jordan if they do not accept the more than two million Palestinians in Gaza, which has been levelled by Israel over 16 months of war triggered by a major Hamas attack.
“All these countries say how much they care about the Palestinians, but none of them want to take any Palestinians. None of them have a history of doing anything for Gaza,” Mr Rubio said.
Jordan already hosts more than two million Palestinian refugees.
Diplomats say that Egypt is leading efforts to present an alternative
The Egyptian proposal would involve training a new security force in Gaza and identifying local Palestinian leaders who would be in charge.
Mr Rubio said he believes Arab states are “working in good faith”, but that a red line is that there should be no future role for Hamas.
“If the countries in the region can’t figure that piece out, then Israel is going to have to do it, and then we’re back to where we’ve been,” he said.
Mr Rubio’s predecessor, Mr Antony Blinken, proposed a plan in which international powers and the United Nations would play a temporary role in Gaza until the Palestinian Authority can take over the war-ravaged enclave.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leading a hard-right government, has long sought to weaken the Palestinian Authority, based in the West Bank, as part of his opposition to a Palestinian state. AFP
