Egypt Daily News – The Egyptian presidency said in a statement on Thursday evening that President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi arrived in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, to participate in an informal meeting with several Arab leaders regarding the Palestinian issue, following a U.S. proposal to relocate residents of the Gaza Strip to Arab countries, including Egypt and Jordan.
President El-Sisi headed to Riyadh after concluding a visit to the Spanish capital, Madrid, where he reiterated Cairo’s rejection of U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to develop the Palestinian territory under American control and relocate its Palestinian residents elsewhere. The proposal has angered Arab countries.
Saudi Arabia’s official news agency reported on Thursday that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had invited the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, along with Egypt and Jordan, to a “friendly” meeting in Riyadh on Friday, ahead of an emergency Arab summit scheduled to be held in Cairo on March 4 to discuss developments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Egyptian presidency stated that the meeting would include Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain.
Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing two Egyptian security sources, that President El-Sisi would discuss during his visit to Riyadh an Arab plan for Gaza’s reconstruction after Israel’s 15-month war on the territory. The plan may involve financial contributions from regional countries amounting to up to $20 billion.
The Saudi news agency stated that the meeting in Riyadh on Friday would include discussions on “joint Arab action and related decisions, which will be part of the agenda of the upcoming emergency Arab summit.”
According to four informed sources, Saudi Arabia is leading Arab efforts to counter Trump’s plan, and the Riyadh meeting aims to review and discuss the Arab proposal before presenting it at the Cairo summit.
Arab nations have expressed concern over Trump’s plan to “relocate” Palestinians from Gaza and resettle most of them in Jordan and Egypt while transforming the Strip into the “Riviera of the Middle East,” an idea that Cairo and Amman immediately rejected and that most countries in the region view as highly destabilizing.
The Arab proposal, which is largely based on an Egyptian plan, calls for the formation of a Palestinian committee to govern Gaza without the participation of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas. It also includes international involvement in the reconstruction of the Strip without displacing its residents.
Sources stated that the plan envisions Gaza’s reconstruction over three years. The Palestinian Authority’s cabinet said in a statement on Tuesday that the first phase of the plan “extends over three years with an estimated cost of about $20 billion.”
In response to reports about the Arab proposal, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said that Israel would await an evaluation of the plan once it is presented but warned that any proposal allowing Hamas to continue governing Gaza would not be acceptable.
