US President Donald Trump is proposing that Palestinians be evicted from the Gaza Strip and moved to other Arab countries - such as Egypt and Jordan. It is not clear whether temporarily or permanently. How they react there.
US President Donald Trump is apparently convinced that his controversial plan will work - he still hopes that Egypt and Jordan will accept Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
Life in Gaza has long been a real “hell”, Trump said. He hoped that in the future the Palestinians would be able to live in some “area where there is not so much unrest, uprisings and violence”. Trump did not say whether it was a temporary or permanent solution. Critics fear that the plan would forcibly relocate Palestinians from Gaza – despite all political and international legal obstacles and despite all refusals from officials from neighboring countries. However, the US president continues to claim that such a thing is possible.
Egypt and Jordan refuse
The proposal to transfer Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to neighboring countries has already been sharply criticized in recent days. In addition to the EU, Egypt and Jordan themselves have also criticized it.
Egypt supports the “inviolable demands of the Palestinian people for their own land,” the foreign ministry in Cairo said. Egypt opposes “any interference with these rights, whether it is annexation or settlement of lands through depopulation in the form of expulsion.” Jordan’s position is similar. The pro-government newspaper “Jordan Times” writes that Jordan is not an alternative homeland for the Palestinians and never will be.
There will be resistance in these countries
According to political scientist Stefan Roll of the Berlin-based “Science and Politics” Foundation, Egypt rejects such proposals because it stands in solidarity with the Palestinians and supports their desire to have their own state. And also because the population in Egypt would oppose such a decision. “This is a very serious domestic political problem. Giving up Egyptian land is considered taboo, and many Egyptians consider the idea of resettling Palestinians to be anti-Palestinian. The government will have to prepare for serious protests from the population”.
The situation is similar in Jordan, says Edmund Ratka of the “Konrad Adenauer Foundation”. Most Jordanians are categorically against any action that undermines the "Palestinian cause." "No one in the country, including the king, wants to be suspected of supporting such a plan. This is also due to the fact that such a thing would stimulate extremist groups in Jordan," the expert says.
According to Ratka, there is another problem. That part of the Jordanian population that is not of Palestinian origin is worried that the demographic balance and the balance of power will change to their detriment. This can only strengthen the far-right voices in Israel, which already see Jordan as a state for the Palestinians. Jordanians of Palestinian origin already dominate much of the country's private sector, explains expert Ratka. According to various sources, a large number of Jordanians are of this origin.
A new war with Israel as the most frightening scenario
In Egypt, there are also serious security concerns regarding Trump's proposal, notes German expert Rohl. “It is about the fact that the Sinai Peninsula has been quite unstable in recent years”. If large refugee camps are built there, this will create a risk of new problems that could spread throughout the country. “At the same time, there is also the fear that attacks against Israel could be launched from these potential refugee camps. If Israel responds, Egypt will also have to react and this could provoke a war. There are very serious concerns about such a scenario”, explains Rohl.
In Jordan, these concerns are slightly different, says Edmund Ratka. The king and the state apparatus are finding it increasingly difficult to convince the country's population that normalization of relations with Israel and peace should be sought - especially after the Hamas terrorist act of October 7, 2023, and the subsequent war in the Gaza Strip. The 1994 Israeli-Jordanian peace agreement was signed with the idea that the Palestinians would eventually have a state.
“If the Palestinian state project is buried, then in the eyes of many Jordanians, relations with Israel must be fundamentally re-examined. And Trump's latest proposal to transfer Palestinians to the country is also interpreted in this way”. Given the region's historical experience with such projects, no one in Jordan believes that the displacement of Palestinians to other countries will be only temporary.
Red line
“Amman has always described the expulsion of Palestinians from the Palestinian territories as a red line that should not be crossed”, explains Ratka. “If they agree now, they will appear weak and without influence in the eyes of their own people, but also on the international stage”. The same applies to Egypt, says Stefan Roll. “Egypt wants to continue to play an important role, especially in the process of economic recovery. In this sense, Cairo will probably try to influence Trump and convince him to abandon this plan”.
Despite all the criticism, Trump is right about one thing, believes Roll: “The Gaza Strip is completely destroyed. It will probably take years to rebuild there. Where are the Palestinians expected to live until then?”