( NYPost )
Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations have publicly rejected President Trump’s plan to evacuate war-torn Gaza’s 2.3 million residents so the US can “take over” and redevelop the land.
But they may come to secretly support it because it would finally solve decades of conflict and end Hamas’ iron grip, a former Israel-Palestinian negotiator says.
Avi Melamed, an ex-Israeli intelligence official who served as a senior Arab affairs adviser to Jerusalem, said Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan are likely interested in Trump’s vision for Gaza as a possible solution to their Hamas problem.
“I wouldn’t be surprised to know that in the back rooms, the Saudis, the Egyptians, the Jordanians are very much happy about Trump’s … that idea of the United States taking control over the situation in Gaza,” Melamed told The Post.
“We have to remember that in the end of the day, Hamas presents Egypt and Jordan and the Saudis and the Emirates … a significant threat,” he added.
The Arab nations have previously shown disdain for Hamas, which seized power in the Gaza Strip in 2007.
The terror group is backed by Iran, which is a major regional rival. Arab officials instead would like to tap the ousted Palestinian Authority to return and oversee order in the enclave.
Melamed, however, insists there needs to be a “big, significant game-changer on the ground” to alter the balance of power in Gaza.
For that reason, the Arab nations might be open to the idea of having the US in Gaza.
However, a major stumbling block will likely be Trump’s proposal to move the Gaza Strip’s 2.3 million people into Egypt and Jordan.
They both rejected the proposal on Wednesday despite the president’s claim that they “love the idea.”
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said Gaza must be rebuilt “without moving the Palestinians out,” as he pushed for a two-state solution to end the conflict in the Middle East.
Cairo has long maintained a strong border around the Gaza Strip and kept Palestinians from fleeing into Egypt, even during the most intense months of the war, when more than a million refugees flooded the border city of Rafah.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II, one of Israel and America’s key allies in the Middle East, also rejected Trump’s plan and said his nation would only support a plan that keeps Palestinians in their own land.
“His Majesty King Abdullah II stresses the need to put a stop to settlement expansion, expressing rejection of any attempts to annex land and displace the Palestinians,” the Royal Hashemite Court of Jordan wrote on X.
Steve Witkoff, the president’s special envoy to the Middle East, defended the president’s plan and said it was simply not possible for Palestinians to stay in the Middle East.
“Gaza today is uninhabitable and will probably be uninhabitable for at least the next 10 to 15 years,” Witkoff said in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity. “If there are different places for them to live, let them make that choice.”
Following the backlash from the Middle East, national security adviser Mike Waltz and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt both said Trump’s proposal was meant to force the Arab nations to “step up” and offer their own solution.
“I think [Trump’s plan] is going to bring the entire region to come [up] with their own solutions,” Waltz said.
White House Middle East envoy Morgan Ortagus also told a group of Arab ambassadors who opposed relocating the Gazans that Trump did not want to hear a blanket “No” in response to the proposal — but wanted neighboring states to present their own solutions, Axios reports.
A source close to the White House, who is familiar with internal Middle East discussions, said Trump was thinking outside the box to ensure peace in the Middle East.
“President Trump is making it clear that he’s willing to rewrite the rules in pursuit of peace and prosperity,” the source told The Post.
“Does it sound impossible? Sure. But so did his campaign as he came down the golden escalator [in] 2015. That’s the story of Donald Trump,” the source added.
“Peace doesn’t happen by just rinse and repeating the same failed diplomatic platitudes. It happens by doing something so profoundly different that it reshapes the entire paradigm.”
Trump’s controversial proposal may ultimately be nothing more than an opening gambit to shock the Middle East into action, similar to his first term when he flirted with the idea of having Israel annex the West Bank.
Following backlash to that plan, Trump’s administration pushed to normalize Israeli-Arab relations through the Abraham Accords, which the United Arab Emirates accepted in 2020.
Alex Plitsas, a senior fellow with the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative, said Trump’s current plan features too many hurdles to be realistic — in terms of both money and manpower.
So he believes the president is likely looking to make a deal to solve the issue.
“Trump’s idea might therefore be seen as a negotiating tactic, similar to his approach with trade deals, but its success would hinge on navigating complex regional dynamics and the realities of a volatile and heavily armed Gaza,” Plitsas said in a statement.
It remains unclear what Trump’s follow-up will be with the Arab nations, with Leavitt declining to comment as she didn’t want to “get ahead” of the president’s negotiations.
The US and its allies in the Middle East could present a clearer vision of Gaza next week, when Trump is set to meet with Jordan’s King Abdullah II at the White House.
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