Dubai: President Donald Trump's suggestion that Egypt and Jordan take in Palestinians from the war-ravaged Gaza Strip is likely to be met with a hard “no" from two US allies and the Palestinians themselves who fear Israel would never allow them to return.
Trump floated the idea on Saturday, stating he would urge the leaders of Egypt and Jordan to take in Gaza’s largely homeless population with the intention to "clean out that whole thing." He further suggested that resettling Gaza's population could be either temporary or long-term. Trump described Gaza as “a demolition site,” referring to the widespread destruction caused by Israel's 15-month military campaign against Hamas, which has currently been paused by a ceasefire widely feared as fragile.
“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," Trump said.
There was no immediate comment from Egypt, Jordan, Israel or Palestinian officials.
The idea is likely to be welcomed by Israel, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right governing partners have long advocated what they describe as the voluntary migration of large numbers of Palestinians and the reestablishment of Jewish settlements in Gaza. Perhaps this would make things easier for Israel to expand its occupation of nearby areas with additional settlements.
Human rights groups have already accused Israel of ethnic cleansing, which United Nations experts have defined as a policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove the civilian population of another group from certain areas “by violent and terror-inspiring means."
A History of Displacement
During the 1948 war surrounding the creation of Israel, approximately 700,000 Palestinians — a majority of the prewar population — fled or were driven from their homes in what is now Israel, an event commemorated by Palestinians as the Nakba, meaning “catastrophe” in Arabic.
Israel refused to allow their return, fearing that doing so would result in a Palestinian majority within its borders. Today, the refugees and their descendants number around 6 million, with large communities in Gaza, where they make up the majority of the population, as well as in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.
In the 1967 Middle East war, Israel’s seizure of the West Bank and Gaza Strip forced an additional 300,000 Palestinians to flee, mainly into Jordan.
The longstanding refugee crisis remains a key driver of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and was a central issue in peace talks that ultimately broke down in 2009. Palestinians assert their right of return, while Israel maintains that they should be absorbed by surrounding Arab nations.
Many Palestinians view the ongoing war in Gaza, which has led to the destruction of entire neighborhoods and displaced 90% of the population of 2.3 million, as a new Nakba. They fear that large-scale displacement may result in their permanent inability to return.
A Red Line for Countries that Made Peace with Israel Decades Ago
Egypt and Jordan strongly rejected the proposal to accept refugees from Gaza early in the war when it was suggested by some Israeli officials. While both countries have signed peace agreements with Israel, they continue to support the creation of a Palestinian state in the territories Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war: the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. They fear that permanently displacing Gaza’s population could render the establishment of a Palestinian state impossible.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has raised concerns about the security risks of relocating large numbers of Palestinians to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, which borders Gaza. He warned that Hamas and other militant groups, deeply embedded within Palestinian society, are likely to accompany the refugees, potentially leading to future conflicts on Egyptian soil. Such a scenario could undermine the historic Camp David peace treaty, a pillar of regional stability. El-Sisi expressed in October 2023 that “the peace which we have achieved would vanish from our hands,” referring to the fallout from Hamas’ attack on southern Israel and the broader implications of displacing Palestinians for the sake of addressing the Palestinian cause. This echoes the experience of Lebanon in the 1970s, when the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) turned southern Lebanon into a base for attacks on Israel. The resulting refugee crisis and militant actions contributed to Lebanon’s 15-year civil war, which was further exacerbated by two Israeli invasions.
Jordan, which had clashed with and expelled the PLO under similar circumstances in 1970, currently hosts over 2 million Palestinian refugees, the majority of whom have been granted citizenship. Israeli ultranationalists have long suggested that Jordan should be considered a Palestinian state, enabling Israel to retain control of the West Bank, which they view as the biblical heartland of the Jewish people. However, Jordan’s monarchy has consistently rejected this idea.
Israel's offensive in Gaza has reduced much of the territory to rubble.| Photo: AP
Can Trump Force Egypt and Jordan to Accept Refugees?
Whether President Trump can compel Egypt and Jordan to accept Palestinian refugees depends on the seriousness of his approach and the measures he is willing to take.
Trump has used economic tools like US tariffs and sanctions in the past, and these could have a significant impact on both Egypt and Jordan, who receive billions in American aid annually. However, this would be a delicate issue as Egypt is already grappling with an economic crisis.
Allowing a large influx of refugees could also have destabilizing effects. Egypt is currently hosting around 9 million migrants, including refugees from Sudan's civil war, while Jordan, with a population of under 12 million, is already home to more than 700,000 refugees, primarily from Syria.
Pushing these nations to accept more refugees could also risk alienating other key allies in the region. Trump’s relations with leaders like Egypt's President el-Sissi and Jordan’s King Abdullah II, as well as with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey—all of whom support the Palestinian cause—could be affected. This could complicate ongoing efforts to broker a historic normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, a deal Trump has pursued both in his previous term and aims to finalize in his current one.
With PTI inputs