This handout image reveals (from L) Bahrain’s Crown Prince and Prime Minister Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Jordan’s Crown Prince Hussein and UAE’s Nationwide Safety Advisor Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed al-Nahyan pose for an image in Riyadh on February 21, 2025.
Saudi Royal Palace/AFP through Getty
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Saudi Royal Palace/AFP through Getty
DUBAI — There was no last communique, press convention or particulars of when the assembly began or ended, in distinction to straightforward protocol when Arab leaders meet. As a substitute, a single picture was launched on Friday, displaying Arab leaders standing shoulder-to-shoulder in Saudi Arabia for what the dominion referred to as an “informal brotherly gathering”, although with lofty dialogue on Gaza’s future.
This uncommon degree of secrecy across the high-level assembly signifies how delicate these talks are for Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, leaders from different Gulf states, Egypt’s president and Jordan’s king, who all attended.
Whereas their solely picture from the gathering reveals them standing collectively, what’s at stake is whether or not they can attain a consensus and unite round an Egyptian plan for Gaza that is starkly completely different to the one laid out by President Donald Trump in latest weeks.
Arab states are scrambling to deal with Trump’s imaginative and prescient for Gaza, through which he says the U.S. ought to take possession of the territory, displace all its 2 million Palestinians completely to nations like Egypt and Jordan, and switch this sliver of beachfront territory into an actual property venture.
The plan has strained the fundamental outlines of an already shaky ceasefire in Gaza following greater than 15 months of warfare and Israeli airstrikes which have decimated the territory and killed a minimum of 48,000 folks, most of them girls and kids, in response to the Palestinian well being ministry. The warfare erupted when Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing round 1,200 folks there and taking hostages in October 2023.
Arab nations, eager to take care of heat ties with Trump as president, have rejected the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza whereas indirectly condemning Trump’s concept. Egypt and Jordan view the plan as destabilizing to their safety and the area. The UAE., which has shut ties with Israel and opposes Hamas in Gaza, has emphasised that reconstruction of Gaza should be linked to the institution of a Palestinian state.
Hamas and plenty of Palestinians have referred to as Trump’s plan “ethnic cleansing,” however Israel’s prime minister has embraced it as a exceptional concept that encourages what he says is voluntary migration. Israel’s army has been instructed to organize to facilitate the plan.
It is not solely Israeli backing that is wanted, although. Any post-war reconstruction of Gaza may even require Arab assist to assist shoulder the price of rebuilding and the potential deployment of troops for safety.
Arab leaders assessment Egypt’s plan
Whereas Egypt’s plan has not been made public, the state-run Al-Ahram newspaper in Cairo reported it contains carving out “safe areas” for Palestinians in Gaza to reside in as Egyptian and worldwide corporations take away rubble and rebuild infrastructure.
The Related Press studies the multiphase plan contains Hamas giving up governance of Gaza, because the group advised NPR they’re keen to do, although Hamas insist on the precise to take care of arms towards Israel. The AP studies the Egyptian plan additionally requires restructuring Gaza’s police power.
It is unclear, nonetheless, if the plan goes far sufficient in addressing considerations of Gulf Arab states, that are unlikely to take a position billions into rebuilding Gaza as long as the specter of violence looms indefinitely and Israeli airstrikes stay a menace.
In the meantime, the Palestinian Authority within the occupied-West Financial institution says it has its personal imaginative and prescient for Gaza that shall be offered in early March at a wider Arab League summit in Cairo.
Gaza’s unsure future
There’s slightly over per week left within the present ceasefire settlement between Israel and Hamas. Negotiations haven’t but begun for the extra advanced second part of the deal that features full Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza, the discharge of all remaining Israeli hostages and a everlasting finish to the warfare. Far-right ministers in Israel’s authorities desire a return to warfare, saying Hamas has not been eradicated.
An evaluation this week by the U.N., World Financial institution and European Union says Gaza and the occupied-West Financial institution want a minimum of $53 billion for reconstruction and restoration over the following decade. The U.N. says 95% of Gaza’s colleges have been broken or destroyed, as have greater than 90% of properties and most hospitals, roads, water techniques and agricultural land. One other U.N. estimate says extra particularly that almost 300,000 properties have been fully destroyed in Israeli airstrikes.
White Home Mideast Envoy Steve Witkoff has a lead position in ceasefire efforts to launch hostages and just lately stepped foot in Gaza with Israeli troopers. In remarks to Trump’s son-in-law and former advisor, Jared Kushner, at a summit in Miami on Thursday hosted by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, Witkoff stated situations in Gaza are horrendous.
“I sat in Gaza with a bulletproof vest on looking at the scenery there, Jared, and I don’t know why anyone would want to live there today. It’s illogical to me,” he stated, including it’s going to take “a lot of cleanup and imagination and a great master plan” just like the one offered by Trump to alter the long run.
