Major Arab countries have rejected a scheme by U.S. President Donald Trump to relocate the Palestinian inhabitants of the Gaza Strip from the Palestinian territory.

Arab countries, including Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, the Palestinian Authority, and the Arab League, issued a joint statement on Saturday after a meeting of foreign ministers in Cairo, emphasizing their rejection of any efforts to displace Palestinians from Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

They warned that such plans could “threaten the region’s stability, risk expanding the conflict, and undermine prospects for peace and coexistence among its peoples.”

“We affirm our rejection of [any attempts] to compromise Palestinians’ unalienable rights, whether through settlement activities, or evictions or annex of land or through vacating the land from its owners...in any form or under any circumstances or justifications,” the joint statement read.

The meeting also urged the international community to address Gaza’s humanitarian crisis and immediately launch a reconstruction plan to ensure Palestinians remain on their land. 

Earlier, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah had both rejected any forced displacement of Palestinians, after Trump’s controversial suggestion that the Arab countries should take more Palestinians from Gaza to “clean out” the enclave.

Jordan is already home to several million Palestinians, while tens of thousands live in Egypt. 

Since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023, nearly all of Gaza’s 2.2 million residents have been displaced, often multiple times, due to Israeli attacks.

The idea of relocating Palestinians has been consistently opposed by both Palestinians and regional countries. They insist it would undermine the prospect of Palestinian statehood and lead to greater instability in the Middle East.

They also warn such a move would be reminiscent of the Nakba (catastrophe) of 1948, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forcibly displaced during the illegal creation of Israel.

Israel never allowed them to return to their homeland and many are still formally considered refugees.

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