Trump wants Jordan, Egypt to accept more Palestinian; floats plan to 'just clean out' Gaza

AP , Sunday 26 Jan 2025

President Donald Trump said Saturday he’d like to see Jordan, Egypt and other Arab nations increase the number of Palestinian they are accepting from the Gaza Strip — potentially moving out enough of the population to “just clean out” the war-torn area.

GAZA
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One as he travels from Las Vegas to Miami.AP

 

Trump said he had call earlier in the day with King Abdullah II of Jordan and would speak Sunday with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.

“I’d like Egypt to take people,” Trump said. “You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say, ‘You know, it’s over.’”

Trump said he complimented Jordan for having successfully accepted Palestinian refugees and that he told the king, “I’d love for you to take on more, cause I’m looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now, and it’s a mess. It’s a real mess.”

Trump added that the part of the world that encompasses Gaza, has “had many, many conflicts” over centuries. He said resettling “could be temporary or long term.”

“Something has to happen," Trump said. “But it’s literally a demolition site right now. Almost everything’s demolished, and people are dying there.” He added: “So, I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations, and build housing in a different location, where they can maybe live in peace for a change.”

Both Egypt and Jordan along with the Palestinian Authority firmly rejected Trump's proposal.

Trump has offered non-traditional views on the future of Gaza in the past. He suggested after he was inaugurated on Monday that Gaza has “really got to be rebuilt in a different way."

The new president added then, ”Gaza is interesting. It’s a phenomenal location, on the sea. The best weather, you know, everything is good. It’s like, some beautiful things could be done with it, but it’s very interesting."

During a 20-minute question-and-answer session with reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday, Trump also said he's ended his predecessor’s hold on sending 2,000-pound bombs to Israel.

“We released them today," Trump said of the bombs. “They’ve been waiting for them for a long time." Asked why he lifted the ban on those bombs, Trump responded, “Because they bought them.”

Trump has built his political career around being unapologetically pro-Israel.

His resuming delivery of large bombs, meanwhile, is a break with then-President Joe Biden, who temporarily halted their delivery in May as part of an effort to keep Israel from launching an all-out assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, but weeks later those bombs were delivered.

Trump's action comes as he has celebrated the first phase of a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel that has paused the fighting and seen the release of some Israelis held in Gaza in return for hundreds of Palestinian held by Israel.

Negotiations have yet to begin in earnest on the more difficult second phase of the deal that would eventually see an enduring halt to the genocidal Israeli war.

* This story was edited by Ahram Online.

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