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Are Trump's Gaza plans a threat to neighboring countries?

January 29, 2025

US President Donald Trump has proposed relocating Palestinians from Gaza. Egypt and Jordan are strictly opposed to this idea. But where could Palestinians live until Gaza is rebuilt?

https://p.dw.com/p/4pmCZ
Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians are on their way to northern Gaza on the coastal road
Donald Trump believes that Palestinians from Gaza should be living in Jordan and Egypt, however, for those countries, taking in Palestinians is a red lineImage: Mohammed al Madhoun/DW

US President Donald Trump believes it would be a good idea if Jordan, Egypt and other Arab nations take in a larger number of Palestinian refugees from the Gaza Strip.

"I'd like Egypt to take people, and I'd like Jordan to take people," Trump said earlier this week. "You're talking about probably a million and a half people, we just clean out that whole thing," he added.

In his view, the relocation could be "temporary or long term but something has to happen."

"It's literally a demolition site right now. Almost everything's demolished, and people are dying there," he said, adding that "I'd rather get involved with some of the Arab nations, and build housing in a different location, where they can maybe live in peace for a change."

According to the news agency AP, Trump relayed to reporters what he told Jordan's King Abdullah during a phone call. "I said to him, 'I'd love for you to take on more because I'm looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now, and it's a mess.'"

King Abdullah II of Jordan at the UN General Assembly in New York
King Abdullah II of Jordan, whose wife Queen Rania is of Palestinian origin, rejects taking in more Palestinians Image: Loey Felipe/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua/picture alliance

Firm rejection

However, Trump's idea of forcing Palestinians to move from the Gaza Strip to neighboring states was met with immediate criticism.

In addition to the EU, Egypt and Jordan in particular have vociferously rejected the idea.

Egypt's Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that the temporary or long-term transfer of Palestinians "risks expanding the conflict in the region." Egypt supports the "unwavering insistence of the Palestinian people on their land," Cairo said, adding that Egypt rejected "any interference in these inalienable rights, be it through colonization or annexation of land or through depopulation of this land in the form of expulsion."

Jordan's foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, reacted similarly. He told reporters that his country's rejection of the proposed transfer of Palestinians was "firm and unwavering."

According to the Jordan newspaper Jordan Times, which is considered close to the government, Amman's position is clear. "Jordan is not, and will never be, an alternative homeland for Palestinians. The Palestinian people cannot abandon their homeland, no matter the pressures or threats they face. For Palestinians, their land is not merely territory but identity, history, and shared destiny," the newspaper wrote. 

Egyptian soldiers accompany trucks carrying prefabricated houses, as they drive along a road in Egypt's northern Sinai peninsula
It will take years to rebuild Gaza, most of which has been destroyedImage: Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images

Unwavering solidarity for Palestinians

"Egypt's rejection is largely due to solidarity and support for the Palestinian quest for statehood," Stephan Roll from the Berlin-based German Institute for International and Security Affairs, or SWP, told DW.

"This is a major domestic political issue (...) Giving up Egyptian land is considered taboo, especially because of the resettlement project, which many Egyptians regard as anti-Palestinian," he said. "The government would have to reckon with considerable protest from the population." 

According to Edmund Ratka, head of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation's Office in Amman, the situation in Jordan is similar.

"Most Jordanians are strictly opposed to a project that is seen as undermining the 'Palestinian cause,'" he told DW. "Nobody in the country, including the king, wants to be suspected of playing along with this presumed policy."

Another reason is that such a plan would give a boost to extremist groups within Jordan, he added.

"This could reinforce the arguments of right-wing forces in Israel, who already see today's Jordan as a state for Palestinians," Ratka said. In his view, the non-Palestinian parts of the Jordanian population, who form the backbone of the state, are also concerned that the demographic and power-political balance in the kingdom could change to their disadvantage. 

According to various estimates, around half of the Jordanian population is of Palestinian origin. "This is another reason why Jordan's traditional tribal communities are against the influx of more Palestinians," Ratka told DW.

Egypt-Israeli war is a nightmare scenario

In addition to its solidarity with the Palestinians, Egypt also has considerable security concerns about Trump's proposal.

"The Sinai border region has been very unstable over the past decades," SWP's Stephan Roll told DW.

Whereas the area has been stabilized to some extent through massive military operations, larger refugee camps in Sinai could risk renewed unrest, which could then spread to the rest of the country, he added. "At the same time, of course, there is the concern that attacks on Israel could take place from refugee camps or Palestinian settlements. Israel would then probably react and Egypt would be at war with Israel," Roll warned.

Jordan, in contrast, has somewhat different concerns, said Ratka. During the past 15 months of war in Gaza, which was triggered by the Hamas terror attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, the king and government have found it increasingly difficult to convince the population that their course of consensus and peace with Israel is bearing fruits.

"After all, the Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty of 1994 was concluded with the expectation that the Palestinians would eventually have their own state," Ratka said.

"If the Palestinian statehood project is dead, relations with Israel would need to be fundamentally redefined in the eyes of many Jordanians," Ratka pointed out, adding that Trump's latest proposal could be interpreted in this vein.

"No one in Jordan believes that the resettlement of Palestinians to neighboring countries would be only temporary, given historical experiences with past waves of Palestinian refugees," Ratka said. "For Amman, the expulsion of Palestinians from the Palestinian territories has always been a red line."

The same applies to Egypt, according to the SWP's Roll. "Cairo also wants to play a role in Gaza with regard to reconstruction and its economic importance," he said. 

There is only one aspect in which Roll agrees with Trump. "The Gaza Strip has been completely destroyed and it will probably take years to rebuild it. Where are the Palestinians supposed to live until then?" he asked.

Trump suggests Gaza 'clean out,' relocation of Palestinians

This article was originally published in German.

Kersten Knipp
Kersten Knipp Political editor with a focus on the Middle East