Washington — President Trump hosted Jordan’s King Abdullah II on the White Home on Tuesday and renewed his options that Gaza could be emptied of residents, managed by the U.S. and redeveloped as a vacationer space — a plan that would possible solely work if the Arab nation agrees to simply accept extra refugees.
The pair met within the Oval Workplace, the place Mr. Trump urged he would not withhold U.S. support to Jordan, Egypt or different Arab nations, if they do not conform to dramatically improve the variety of individuals from Gaza they soak up.
“I haven’t got to threaten that. I do imagine we’re above that,” Mr. Trump mentioned. That contradicted his earlier suggestion that holding again support was a chance.
Abdullah was requested repeatedly about Mr. Trump’s audacious plan to remake the Center East, however did not make substantive feedback on it nor the concept that his nation may settle for massive numbers of recent refugees from Gaza. He did say that Jordan would settle for roughly 2,000 kids with most cancers and different well being issues “instantly.” Mr. Trump mentioned he didn’t find out about that dedication, which he known as “a stupendous gesture.”
Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg by way of Getty Photographs
The president additionally repeated options that the U.S. may come to regulate Gaza, however he mentioned that it would not require committing funds and would come to fruition. He additionally mentioned that might be doable “beneath the U.S. authority,” with out elaborating what that truly was.
“We’re not going to purchase something. We will have it,” Mr. Trump mentioned of U.S. management in Gaza. He urged that the redeveloped space may have new accommodations, workplace buildings and homes and “and we’ll make it thrilling.”
“I can inform you about actual property. They are going to be in love with it,” Mr. Trump, who constructed a New York actual property empire that catapulted him to fame, mentioned of Gaza’s residents, whereas additionally insisting that he personally wouldn’t be concerned in improvement.
Moreover, Mr. Trump used the assembly to resume his options {that a} tenuous ceasefire between Hamas and Israel might be canceled if Hamas would not launch all the remaining hostages it’s holding by noon on Saturday.
“I do not assume they’ll make the deadline, personally,” Mr. Trump mentioned of Hamas. “They need to play powerful man. We’ll see how powerful they’re.”
The king’s go to is occurring at a dangerous second for the ongoing ceasefire in Gaza. Hamas is accusing Israel of violating the truce and mentioned it’s pausing future releases of hostages captured in its Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist assault.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly proposed the U.S. take management of Gaza and switch it into “the Riviera of the Center East,” with Palestinians within the war-torn territory pushed into neighboring nations with no proper of return.
His Tuesday feedback contradicted his Monday options that, if obligatory, he would withhold U.S. funding from Jordan and Egypt — longtime U.S. allies and among the many prime recipients of its international support — as a method of persuading them to simply accept extra Palestinians from Gaza.
Jordan is dwelling to greater than 2 million Palestinians and, together with different Arab states, has flatly rejected Mr. Trump’s plan to relocate civilians from Gaza. Jordan’s international minister, Ayman Safadi, mentioned final week that his nation’s opposition to Mr. Trump’s concept was “agency and unwavering.”
Apart from issues about jeopardizing the long-held targets of a two-state resolution to the Israel-Palestinian battle, Egypt and Jordan have privately raised safety issues about welcoming massive numbers of extra refugees into their nations even briefly.
The king can also be assembly with prime Trump administration officers throughout his go to, together with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, nationwide safety adviser Mike Waltz, Center East envoy Steve Witkoff and Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth, in addition to a bipartisan group of lawmakers on Capitol Hill. He’s the third international chief to carry an in-person assembly with Mr. Trump since his Jan. 20 inauguration.
The president introduced his concepts for resettling Palestinians from Gaza and taking possession of the territory for the U.S. throughout a press convention final week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He initially did not rule out deploying U.S. troops to assist safe Gaza however on the similar time insisted no U.S. funds would go to pay for the reconstruction of the territory, elevating elementary questions in regards to the nature of his plan.
After Mr. Trump’s preliminary feedback, Rubio and White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted that Trump solely needed Palestinians relocated from Gaza “briefly” and sought an “interim” interval to permit for particles removing, the disposal of unexploded ordnance and reconstruction.
However requested in an interview with Fox Information’ Bret Baier that aired Monday if Palestinians in Gaza would have a proper to return to the territory beneath his plan, he replied, “No, they would not.”
