The countdown is now underway to the truth of the Arab leaders, who is just 10 days from March 4. Last Friday, in an informal consultation in Riyad, the “joint efforts” were discussed to support “the Palestinian cause.”
The appointments in the previous paragraph are of a Reuters Report that in turn cited an official Saudi Press Agency (Spa) launch that also had a group photo of the Saudi host Prince Mohammed Bin Salman flanked by the heads of state/ government of Jordan, Egypt, Qatar, the EAU, Bahrain and Kuwait.
Among the seven countries present, two, Egypt and Jordan, have diplomatic ties with Israel, after normalizing relations decades ago. Two others, the EAU and Bahrain, normalized the ties with the Zionist State during Donald Trump’s first mandate in office as a result of Abraham’s agreements.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar also enjoy close and cordial security, economic and political ties with the United States. Then, when all these leaders announced their opposition to the Trump Ethnic Cleaning Plan for Gaza, cynical observers hurried to point out their history and express doubts about the severity of the Arab position. These doubts remain.
It will become evident in the summit in Cairo if Arab leaders are willing to walk on Gaza.
In recent days, many observers have tried to analyze the Arab posture. In the case of Egypt and Jordan, it was the fear of destabilization of their own countries in case of forced displacement of Palestinians of Gaza, which the latter already call Nakba II and promises to resist.
Qatar has long supported Gaza with generous annual grants and US media have summoned the Saudi strong man saying that he would normalize ties without delay, but cannot “sell it” to his people without concessions as a road map to the “two states of two states’ solution.
Despite being a signatory to Abraham’s agreements, the EAU also supported the call for a solution of two states in the future. It is no Saudi Arabia secret and the EAU distrust the radical Arab groups because they have the potential to destabilize their countries, and Trump’s ethnic cleaning plan would be an opportunity in the arm for these groups.
But Gulf leaders know well how to handle their delicate relationships with the United States. At the same time that Saudi Arabia was organizing an Arab meeting apparently to decide forms and means to oppose the Trump Plan, the Sovereign Saudi Fund of wealth was organizing an event in the United States.
Among the attendees were Donald Trump’s son -in -law, Jared Kushner, a real estate developer who first discussed the idea of Gaza’s ethnic cleaning and the construction of a ‘Riviera del Middle East’ along the Mediterranean coast of the strip, and the special envoy of the president of the United States and a close friend, real estate tycoon Steve Witkoff.
Both supported the Trump plan. They seemed to affirm that the plan was rooted in concern for the Palestinians of Gaza and the conditions in which they would have to live if they were not displaced. Of course, they could not have used terms such as ‘forced displacement’, much less ‘ethnic cleaning’. It would not be surprising if Trump thought of ‘his’ plan after listening to Kushner.
As Reuters Highlighted, the SPA The report did not mention the Trump Plan. Nor the cryptic SPA Liberation mentions the Egypt Plan that has been in process since shortly after Trump floated his idea of ethnic cleaning on February 4 and on which we listened for the first time when the king of Jordan was received in the White House a few days later.
There have been a couple of stories in the media. The US National spoke of a three to five years plan with a price of $ 20 billion that visualized the Palestinians relocated to safe areas within Gaza, while the compensation of rubble and the reconstruction of a destroyed infrastructure and units Housing could begin.
Long before Trump, Israel had its own ethnic cleaning plan of Gaza. The way in which his high -tech military with an attack capacity with precision weapons went to the infrastructure of the strip, demolishing universities, schools, schools, hospitals and homes was revealing.
As well as the destruction of the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) of the Energy and Sewerage Earth Energy Distribution Systems that are a basic prerequisite for human life. This was not the orientation of Hamas and others that blamed October 7, 2023, attacks and hostage in occupied Palestine.
Ethnic cleaning is a war crime according to international law. This may not be the reason why several states in the region, which are nothing more than the American vassals, oppose the Trump plan; Its justification is the same that drives its United pro-state policies: self-preservation.
It will be evident in 10 days with the Summit of the Arab League in Cairo if the Arab leaders are prepared to cough the cash required for the task of Gaza’s rehabilitation and return to normal in any framework. They will have to walk through the talk.
Even more significant would be the fate of Hamas and who will govern Gaza once and if the plan is agreed by all parties. While Hamas has suggested that he will retire to guarantee peace and an eventual solution of two states, there is no clarity about who will replace his administration. Hamas has also said that he would retain the armed resistance option to Israel.
The EAU have said that the Palestinian authority that governs parts of the West Bank will support, under the strangulation of the IOF and the Israeli government of the extreme right, to take charge of Gaza from Hamas. While other Arab states/ of the Gulf so far have not articulated their position, the leader of Israel sought war crimes by the International Criminal Court, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said that it will not allow an AP administration in the strip.
Some of these positions may be aimed at winning an advantage in any conversation, but the problems raised also underline how annoying, complex and precarious that it is likely to be any negotiation process. For now, one can only expect that the next 15 months in Gaza will be very different from the past Hellish 15.
The writer is a former Dawn editor.
abbas.nasir@hotmail.com
Posted in Dawn, February 23, 2025
