President Donald Trump has threatened to cut U.S. aid to Jordan and Egypt if they refuse to participate in his proposal to resettle nearly two million Palestinians outside Gaza, escalating tensions ahead of his meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah II at the White House on Tuesday.
The plan, which Trump has described as "U.S. ownership" of Gaza, calls for a complete reconstruction of the war-torn strip into what he envisions as the "Riviera of the Middle East." Under the proposal, displaced Palestinians would be permanently relocated to Jordan and Egypt while Gaza is rebuilt, a move that has drawn fierce opposition from Arab nations.
"If they don't agree, I would conceivably withhold aid," Trump told reporters Monday night, signaling his willingness to pressure U.S. allies to comply.
Jordan, which already hosts millions of Palestinian refugees, has publicly rejected the proposal. The Jordanian royal court released a statement last week affirming that King Abdullah "stresses the need to put a stop to (Israeli) settlement expansion, expressing rejection of any attempts to annex land and displace the Palestinians." In the days following Trump's announcement, Abdullah engaged in discussions with the United Nations and other international stakeholders, seemingly to build opposition against the U.S. plan.
Trump's push for Gaza's reconstruction has become a central foreign policy issue in his second term, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio set to tour Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia later this week. Rubio's efforts to engage Arab leaders, however, have been clouded by conflicting messages from the White House. While administration officials have suggested Palestinian relocation would be temporary, Trump has made clear that those displaced would not have the right to return.
"No, they wouldn't, because they're going to have much better housing," Trump said in a weekend interview with Fox News. "I'm talking about building a permanent place for them."
Rubio has avoided directly confirming whether the U.S. envisions a permanent displacement of Palestinians. When asked about the issue during a recent visit to Central America, Rubio instead said, Gazans would have to live somewhere else "in the interim."
The Trump administration's proposal has drawn widespread condemnation from Arab leaders. Egyptian officials have warned that forced resettlement would destabilize the region, while Jordanian officials have characterized the plan as a violation of international law.
"Arab nations and global leaders have been clear in their opposition to the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians," Iman Awad, national director of policy and advocacy at Emgage Action, a Muslim American advocacy group, said in a statement. "We expect that the upcoming meeting with the Jordanian King will reinforce these concerns, underscoring the necessity of upholding international law and preventing the displacement of millions of Palestinians."
Egypt has responded to the controversy by announcing a summit of Arab nations scheduled for February 27 to discuss the future of Palestinians. Cairo has made it clear that it will not accept any forced relocation of Gazans.
Some analysts suggest Trump's proposal is a negotiation tactic, similar to his strategy in previous trade disputes. "If Trump's eye-popping intervention was a bargaining tactic, as some searching for logic in the proposal claim, it has already failed," said Ahmed Aboudouh, an associate fellow at Chatham House's Middle East and North Africa Programme. "Enormous damage has been done to the fragile peace process and U.S. prestige."
Others argue that the initiative, despite its controversy, has forced international leaders to confront the question of Gaza's postwar future in a way previous administrations had avoided. "No one predicted that Trump would push the United States to engage more on what postwar Gaza should look like in one month than the Biden team did in fifteen months," said Thomas S. Warrick, a senior fellow at the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative.
However, Warrick warned that Trump's proposal would likely face insurmountable obstacles. "There is quite literally no tool in the U.S. toolbox that could persuade the leaders of Egypt or Jordan to change their minds on this point," he said.
Jordan's King Abdullah is expected to reiterate his country's firm opposition to the plan during Tuesday's meeting at the White House. While the administration has described the visit as an opportunity to strengthen U.S.-Jordanian relations, the diplomatic divide over Gaza is likely to dominate discussions.
