US President Donald Trump’s recent remarks urging Egypt and Jordan to take in Palestinians to “clean out” Gaza have led to uproar in the Middle East.
The remarks come at a time in which the ceasefire arrangements in Gaza and Lebanon are yet to stabilise and much-needed humanitarian and reconstruction assistance is still struggling to reach those in need. The possibility of displacing the Palestinian population introduces a dangerous mix of polarisation, mistrust, and regional instability that would play into Middle Eastern politics, undermine international law, and severely affect key Arab partners of the United States.
First, Trump’s remarks reward the Israeli far-right for the war of destruction it has waged against Gaza over the past 15 months. They signal that the new US administration has little interest in mobilising aid or prioritising mediation efforts between Israelis and Palestinians to transition from the current ceasefire into a long-term truce and a revival of peace negotiations centred around the two-state solution.
Instead, the remarks embrace the far-right Israeli government’s policy end goal: to make the Gaza Strip uninhabitable and to push Palestinians into Egypt and Jordan. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich was quick to commend Trump’s remarks and to announce that the Israeli Cabinet would work out a plan to “encourage” Palestinians to leave Gaza or not to return to it.
On a global level, forced displacement contradicts international law and binding UN Resolutions regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which recognise the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination in their territories.
Indeed, taken as a policy statement, the “clean out” Gaza remarks annul Palestinian rights and encourage the crime of displacement. They represent a reversal of the Middle East Peace Process that has been built on the principle of land for peace, guaranteed in UN Security Council Resolution 242, and the right of the Palestinians to establish their independent state along the lines of the 1967-determined borders.
Saudi officials indirectly responded to Trump by stating that Saudi Arabia would only normalise its relations with Israel – a major push during Trump’s first term and in the Biden years – if the establishment of an independent Palestinian state is guaranteed.
In Egypt and Jordan, the two countries that Trump has urged to take in more Palestinians, the pushback has been both massive and widespread and has included government leaders, intellectuals, influencers, and regular citizens alike.
Cairo and Amman immediately rejected the remarks as a violation of their national sovereignty and a denial of legitimate Palestinian rights. Statements, op-eds, interviews, and social media posts spanning the ideological spectrum have been united in their opposition to Trump’s remarks. As an Egyptian myself, I have taken particular note of the immediate support extended to the government of President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi by some of its fiercest critics abroad. When it comes to safeguarding the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, politics do not divide us as Egyptians.
Egypt and Jordan both have peace treaties and diplomatic relations with Israel, making Trump’s remarks even more challenging, beyond the sovereignty and displacement implications. The two countries have kept their commitment to peace intact throughout the Gaza war and played a constructive role in mediating between Israelis and Palestinians (Egypt) or in containing the threats of an expanded regional war (Jordan).
Cairo and Amman have upheld their commitment to peace as the strategic maxim of their foreign policies, even as the Israeli war in Gaza was ravaging the Strip, enacting tragedy on its population, and threatening border security in the two countries. They have also signalled their determination to work with partners to stabilise Gaza and the West Bank and to work in the Middle East as a whole to revive peace and normalisation talks.
The two countries have traditionally maintained cooperative relations with the United States and have constructively supported US security efforts in the region, especially over the past 15 months. During the war, Egypt worked with US officials to implement security guarantees to deescalate the situation along its borders with Israel, especially in the demilitarised Philadelphi Corridor. Jordan participated in the US-led effort to shoot down Iranian drones and missiles in the two attacks launched by the Islamic Republic against Israel.
Security cooperation with both Egypt and Jordan has always been an integral part of US efforts in the Middle East, and jeopardising it is in no one’s interest.
Finally, Trump’s remarks ignore the fact that the number one pillar of Egyptian and Jordanian policies has always been to protect their national sovereignty and not to accept any attempt to undermine it by means of displacing the Palestinian people. The second pillar has been Cairo and Amman’s longstanding support of Palestinian national aspirations and of the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
The Trump administration would be ill-advised to embrace the displacement agenda of the Israeli far-right at the expense of risking stable relations with Egypt and Jordan and of undermining the prospects for reviving peace and normalisation in the Middle East. Both can never happen without a legitimate solution of the Palestinian problem. Amid the aftermath of a horrible war, this may be one of the boldest policy outcomes yet.
The writer is director of the Middle East Programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, DC.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 6 February, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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