File Photo: Egypt s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. AFP
On Tuesday, sources told Saudi news channel Al-Arabiya that a planned visit by President El-Sisi to Washington has been postponed until further notice.
Media reports suggested that El-Sisi would visit Washington in mid-February, following a call between the two presidents earlier this month, during which they exchanged invitations to visit their respective countries.
The sources told Al-Arabiya that Cairo has already sent multiple responses in recent days to Trump's proposed plan on Gaza, asserting a firm stance against his plan involving the displacement of Palestinians from the strip.
Trump stunned the world when he announced last week a colonialist-style proposal for the US to "take over" Gaza and displace the population of more than 2 million Palestinians from the strip to Jordan, Egypt, and other Arab nations to transform the territory into what he called as the "Riviera of the Middle East."
On Tuesday, Trump repeated his proposal for the displacement of the Palestinians from the Gaza Strip in a meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah II in the White House.
When asked about Trump's Gaza "takeover plan", King Abdullah said: “The president is looking at Egypt coming to present their plan. As I said we will be in Saudi Arabia to discuss how we can work with the president and with the United States.”
“So, I think let’s wait until the Egyptians can come and present it to the president and not get ahead of ourselves.”
Following the meeting, in a thread posted on the king's X account, Abdullah said that in the meeting with Trump, he "reiterated Jordan's steadfast position against the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. This is the unified Arab position. Rebuilding Gaza without displacing the Palestinians and addressing the dire humanitarian situation should be the priority for all."
Following Trump and Abdullah’s meeting, Egypt stated that it plans to offer a "comprehensive proposal" to rebuild Gaza while ensuring Palestinians remain on their land.
Cairo has consistently reiterated its strong opposition to any plan aimed at liquidating the Palestinian cause through the forced displacement of Palestinians, even temporarily, emphasizing that it "will not be a party to such a plan."
Immediately after Trump went public with his displacement of the native population and Riviera proposals, President El-Sisi asserted that Egypt "cannot participate in the injustice of displacing the Palestinian people."
It urges a comprehensive and just peace in the region through the establishment of an independent State of Palestine on its land according to international law, along the 4 June 1967 lines, with Jerusalem as its capital.
Egypt, currently rallying Arab, Islamic, and international support to reject Palestinians displacement firmly, is set to host an emergency Arab summit on 27 February to address what it has described as the "serious" developments concerning the Palestinian cause.
On Wednesday, diplomatic sources told Egyptian magazine Rose al-Yusuf that Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan and Qatar are discussing holding a possible five-nation summit in Riyadh on 20 February, a week before the Cairo Arab Summit. The sources indicated the Riyadh summit is contingent on all parties agreeing to attend.
Trump’s insistence on pushing his displacement proposal comes amid Egyptian-Qatari efforts to maintain a fragile ceasefire/prisoner swap deal to put an end to the 15-month Israeli war on Gaza that started on 7 October 2023.
It comes amid threats by Hamas to put the release of the next batch of captives on hold until Israel ceases to violate the terms of the ceasefire deal and counter threats by PM Netanyahu to resume bombing the strip.
The Israeli war killed more than 48,000 and wounded more than 110,000, most of whom were children and women, and destroyed around 92 percent of the strip’s homes.
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