Arab League Secretary-General: Trump’s Relocation Plan an Existential Threat to ‘Palestinian Cause’

Photo Credit: Khalil Kahlout/Flash90

Following the ceasefire, displaced Gaza Arabs return to where their homes used to be, in northern Gaza, January 29, 2025.

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit stated in Cairo on Sunday that Israel aims to render the Gaza Strip uninhabitable, WAFA, the official PA news agency, reported. Aboul Gheit made this remark during a meeting with UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process ad interim, Sigrid Kaag.

“Israel’s objective is to make the Gaza Strip unlivable, creating a situation that is both unacceptable and a clear violation of international law,” Aboul Gheit said, suggesting that “the forced displacement of Palestinians is an existential threat.”

He stressed that without concrete efforts to establish a Palestinian state based on the pre-1967 borders, the region would remain perpetually at risk of spiraling into further cycles of violence.

The Arab League comprises 22 Arab countries.

Secretary-General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit (R) meets in Cairo, Egypt, with another enemy of Israel, Brazilian President Lula da Silva, February 15, 2024. / Palácio do Planalto / Flickr

RELOCATION

Arab countries and the Palestinian Authority issued a joint statement on Saturday rejecting President Donald Trump’s proposal to relocate Gazans to Egypt and Jordan.

The statement was released after a summit in Cairo attended by the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. It also affirmed the official stance of the Arab League. The statement read:

“We affirm our rejection of any attempts to compromise Palestinians’ unalienable rights, whether through settlement activities, or evictions, or annexations of land or through vacating the land from its owners … in any form or under any circumstances or justifications.”

According to the statement, Trump’s proposed move would “threaten the region’s stability, risk expanding the conflict, and undermine prospects for peace and coexistence among its peoples.”

Last week, President Donald Trump said he had asked Jordan’s King Abdullah II to take in more Gaza Arabs, where entire neighborhoods have been destroyed during the 15 months of fighting between Hamas and Israel.

“It’s literally a demolition site right now. Almost everything’s demolished, and people are dying there, so I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing in a different location where I think they could maybe live in peace for a change,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, adding, “I said to him, I’d love you to take on more because I’m looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now and it’s a mess, it’s a real mess.”

He added that he was also asking Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to take in Gazans.

WHO NEEDS THE HEADACHE?

The Wall Street Journal on Saturday noted that since the establishment of Israel in 1948, “Palestinian refugees” have posed a complex challenge for Arab governments. The rise of a violent “Palestinian” nationalist movement in the aftermath of Israel’s creation extended beyond its borders, affecting countries that took in refugees from the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the 1967 Six-Day War.

Over time, “Palestinian” nationalism evolved into both a political and existential concern for Arab states hosting refugees, particularly as some “Palestinians” engaged in guerrilla warfare against Israel. These attacks often provoked Israeli retaliation, sometimes at the expense of the host countries’ native populations.

The “Palestinian” movements fueled ongoing conflicts with Israel, the effects of which are still felt today, especially in Lebanon and Jordan, but also in Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf states.

This concern prompted the foreign ministers of Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Egypt to meet on Saturday in Cairo, where they affirmed the importance of ensuring that “Palestinians” remain on their land, and rejected any attempts at forced displacement.

“The parties strongly opposed any measures aimed at uprooting Palestinians from their land in any form,” the ministers stated, warning that such actions could destabilize the region, escalate the conflict, and jeopardize prospects for peace and coexistence.

They would much rather have Israel keep the “Palestinian” headache all to itself.