US President Donald Trump (R) meets with King Abdullah II of Jordan in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC. AFP
“This is the unified Arab position. Rebuilding Gaza without displacing the Palestinians and addressing the dire humanitarian situation should be the priority for all,” Abdullah wrote after meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday.
The pair met in the Oval Office, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio was also on hand.
In remarks to reporters before the meeting, Trump renewed his insistence that Gaza could somehow be emptied of all residents, controlled by the U.S. and redeveloped as a tourist area.
The president suggested he wouldn't withhold US aid to Jordan or Egypt if they don't agree to dramatically increase the number of people from Gaza they take in.
“I don’t have to threaten that. I do believe we’re above that," Trump said. That contradicted the Republican president's suggestion that holding back aid from Washington was possible.
King Abdullah II refused to commit that his country could accept large numbers of Gazans when asked about Trump's plan to clear out Gaza and overhaul it as a resort on the Mediterranean Sea.
He did say, however, that Jordan would be willing “right away” to take as many as 2,000 children in Gaza who are suffering from cancer or otherwise ill.
“I finally see somebody that can take us across the finish line to bring stability, peace and prosperity to all of us in the region,” the king said of Trump in his statement at the top of the meeting.
Trump used his appearance with Abdullah to push his colonialist-style plan for the US to control Gaza again.
The US president also said Tuesday that it wouldn't require committing American funds but that the US overseeing the war-torn region would be possible “Under the US authority,” without elaborating what that actually was.
“We’re not going to buy anything. We’re going to have it," Trump said of U.S. control in Gaza. He suggested that the redeveloped area could have new hotels, office buildings and houses, "and we’ll make it exciting.”
“I can tell you about real estate. They’re going to be in love with it,” Trump, who built a New York real estate empire that catapulted him to fame, said of Gaza's residents while also insisting that he personally would not be involved in development.
Two weeks ago, Trump proposed that Gaza’s residents could be displaced temporarily or permanently to Egypt, Jordan and other Arab and Muslim countries, an idea that Cairo and Amman and various Arab capitals have rejected.
Immediately after Trump made his idea public, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said his country’s unwavering opposition to the displacement of Palestinians from the occupied territories.
“The solution to the Palestinian issue is in Palestine, and Jordan is for Jordanians, and Palestine is for Palestinians," stressed Safadi.
Additionally, Trump renewed his suggestions that a tenuous ceasefire between Hamas and Israel could be cancelled if Hamas doesn't release all of the remaining captives it is holding by midday on Saturday.
Trump first made that suggestion on Monday, though he insisted then that the ultimate decision lies with Israel.
“I don’t think they’re going to make the deadline, personally," Trump said Tuesday of Hamas. "They want to play tough guy. We’ll see how tough they are.”
Trump has repeatedly proposed the US take control of Gaza and turn it into “the Riviera of the Middle East,” with Palestinians in the war-torn territory pushed into neighbouring nations with no right of return.
Trump's Tuesday comments contradicted his Monday suggestions that, if necessary, he would withhold US funding from Jordan and Egypt — longtime US allies and among the top recipients of its foreign aid — as a means of persuading them to accept additional Palestinians from Gaza.
*This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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