An Emirati official publicly said last month that he sees ‘no alternative’ to Donald Trump’s plan to forcibly displace Gaza’s population
News Desk - The Cradle
“The UAE is lobbying the Trump administration to torpedo a post-war plan for the Gaza Strip that Egypt drafted, which has been endorsed by the Arab League,” US and Egyptian sources told MEE.
“The UAE could not be the lone state opposing the Arab League plan when it was agreed, but they are trashing it with the Trump administration … The UAE's powerful ambassador to the US, … has been lobbying US President Donald Trump’s inner circle and US lawmakers to put pressure on Egypt to accept forcibly displaced Palestinians,” the sources added.
The Egyptian plan was backed by Arab League states at a summit in Cairo in early March.
The proposal – which includes reconstruction, sidelining Hamas, and implementing a path towards a two-state solution – aims to counter Trump’s plan to expel Palestinians from Gaza by prioritizing the need for the strip’s population to remain there.
Emirati Ambassador to Washington Yousef al-Otaiba had said in an interview last month that he did not “see an alternative” to the Trump plan, which the US president announced in early February and said would entail US ownership over Gaza.
In late February, Trump backpedaled from his position, saying he does not wish to impose the plan by force but will recommend it. He later told reporters ahead of his meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin on 12 March that “[The US is] not expelling anyone from the Gaza Strip.”
US National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said in a statement on 4 March that Egypt's plan is unfeasible and affirmed that Trump “stands by his vision.”
The MEE reports come as there has been talk of the US lobbying African states such as Sudan, Somalia, and Somaliland to take in the Palestinian population of Gaza.
The US–Israeli contacts with Sudan, Somalia, and Somaliland aim “to discuss using their territories as potential destinations for resettling Palestinians,” US and Israeli officials told AP on 14 March. But officials from Sudan and Somaliland said they are not involved in such negotiations.
Arab states have rejected Trump’s plan and have officially endorsed the Egyptian initiative. Israel, on the other hand, has praised what many see as an attempt to ethnically cleanse Gaza.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on 9 March that the government would establish a “migration administration” to facilitate the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes and lands in the Gaza Strip.
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