 "As Trump pushes Gaza takeover plan, Jordan's Abdullah holds ground in meeting; Egypt's Sisi defers US visit")
Even as US President Donald Trump is continuously pushing for his plan for the Gaza Strip, King Abdullah II of Jordan held his ground in a meeting on Tuesday.
Abdullah told Trump that Jordan did not agree with the plan to expel Palestinians from Gaza and settle them elsewhere in West Asia, such as in Jordan or Egypt.
Earlier this month, Trump announced that he intends to acquire Gaza and expel all Palestinians to other locations in West Asia permanently. He said that, once Palestinians have been expelled, he would develop Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East” with hotels, office buildings, etc. The Arab world has rejected Trump's plan and Saudi Arabia has indicated that if Trump presses with the plan, the Saudi-Israel normalisation deal that he has in mind may be dead.
Even as Abdullah described the meeting with Trump as “constructive”, the two leaders in their public remarks were poles apart. While Trump maintained that Gaza would be emptied of Palestinians and Jordan and Egypt would take the displaced people, Abdullah stressed the Arab world was against the plan. He, however, dangled a carrot for Trump and said that Jordan would take around 2,000 very sick Palestinian children, including those suffering from cancer.
‘Jordan steadfastly against Palestinians’ displacement’
In a thread on X, Abdullah said that he conveyed to Trump “Jordan’s steadfast position against the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank”.
Abdullah said that it was not just Jordan’s position but that of the Arab world. In recent days, Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia have rejected Trump’s plan to displace Palestinians from Gaza. Saudi Arabia has further rejected Trump's claim that it has not sought Palestinian statehood as a condition for a normsalisation deal with Israel , saying it “will not stop its tireless work towards the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, and that the Kingdom will not establish diplomatic relations with Israel without that”.
Concluded a constructive meeting with President Trump at the White House today. Grateful for the President’s warm welcome. We discussed Jordan’s longstanding partnership with the United States. It continues to be a partnership for stability, peace, and mutual security.
— عبدالله بن الحسين (@KingAbdullahII) February 11, 2025
Impact Shorts
More ShortsEven as Trump's proposal for Gaza kills the two-state solution , which envisions two states for Jews (Israel) and Arabs (Palestinan) side-by-side in the region to resolve their longstanding conflict, Abdullah said that Jordan remains committed to it.
“Rebuilding Gaza without displacing the Palestinians and addressing the dire humanitarian situation should be the priority for all…Achieving just peace on the basis of the two-state solution is the way to ensure regional stability. This requires US leadership. President Trump is a man of peace. He was instrumental in securing the Gaza ceasefire. We look to US and all stakeholders in ensuring it holds,” said Abdullah.
Trump doubles down on his Gaza plan
Despite Abdullah’s rejection of Palestinians’ expulsion from Gaza, Trump doubled down on it in remarks at the White House.
With Abdullah beside him at the Oval Office, Trump said that “the whole thing will come”.
Trump said, “With the United States being in control of that piece of land, a fairly large piece of land, you can have stability in the Middle East for the first time. And the Palestinians or the people that live now in Gaza will be living beautifully in another location. They’re going to be living safely. They’re not going to be killed, murdered, and having to leave every 10 years because I’ve been watching this for so many years. It’s nothing but trouble. Everyone’s being killed, they’re being robbed. It’s like living in hell and they going to end up having a great home, great families that don’t have to get mugged and killed and beaten up and harassed by Hamas and everybody else.”
Trump further said that “you’re going to see some great progress” with Egypt and Jordan soon regarding the plan.
Reiterating his position that sees Palestinians living in Gaza as a compulsion and because it is their homeland, Trump said that “they [Palestinians] only want to be on the Gaza Strip because they don’t know anything else”.
“They never had an alternative and they don’t want to be on the Gaza Strip, but they have no choice. They have to be. And they’re being killed there at levels that nobody’s ever seen. No, no place in the world is like as as dangerous as the Gaza Strip. They don’t want to be there. They have no alternative. When they have an alternative, not one person will want to stay where they are. Nobody wants to stay there. They’re living in hell. It’s a it’s a death trap,” said Trump.
King Abdullah walks a tightrope
In his dealings with Trump, Abdullah is walking a tightrope.
While Jordan is a leading US partner in the region, it now has to deal with transactional Trump for whom alliances and parternships matter little. As Trump sees the world in terms of profit and loss and countries as real estate, Jordan has to negotiate carefully with Trump. Unlike fellow Arab states of Saudi Arabia or Qatar, Jordan does not have oil wealth. The country also relies on assistance from the United States in lieu of security cooperation.
Trump has said such aid may be cut if Jordan does not fall in line with his plan for Gaza. But accepting Trump’s plan may be impossible for Jordan.
Abdullah would not accept Trump’s plan for Gaza not just because it amounts to ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, but also because his own rule may be on the line. More than half of Jordan’s population is of Palestinian descent and the country is home to hundreds of thousands of Arab refugees. If Abdullah joins Trump’s plan to kill Palestinians statehood, then a rebellion that may threaten his rule is nearly certain. It has already happened once.
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) waged a violent war against Abdullah’s father, King Hussein, in 1970, with the intention to overthrow the dynasty and establish Palestinian rule in Jordan. At the time, the PLO had a army of around 40,000 that run a ‘state within a state’ in Jordan and had practically removed the Jordanian rule from parts of the country. In the Jordanian-Palestinian war, thousands of Palestinians were killed and the PLO was later driven out of the kingdom.
With the memory of the PLO’s war in his mind, Abdullah would not want to risk another movement against his rule by siding with Trump.
Paul Salem, the Vice President for International Engagement at the Middle East Institute, told The New York Times that “it’s existential for him and his government”.
“King Abdullah cannot go along with it. He cannot survive the idea that he’s colluding on the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians," said Salem.
Trump has triggered churn in West Asia
Following Trump’s announcement of plan for Gaza, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi postponed his visit to the United States. Instead, he will host a summit of Arab states on Palestine. The summit will be co-chaired by King Abdullah of Jordan.
Egypt said that the summit was was called after “extensive consultations by Egypt at the highest levels with Arab countries in recent days, including Palestine, which requested the summit, to address the latest serious developments regarding the Palestinian cause”.
Trump’s rhetoric, which has alienated West Asia, comes at a time when China is making inroads into the region. In recent years, China has hosted Saudi-Iran talks and intra-Palestinian talks. Whether Trump makes the region slip further into China’s orbit remains to be seen.
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