RIYADH (TIP): Arab leaders were gathering in Saudi Arabia on Feb 21 to hammer out a recovery plan for Gaza aimed at countering President Donald Trump‘s proposal for US control of the territory and the expulsion of its people.
Trump’s plan has united Arab states in opposition to it, but disagreements remain over who should govern the war-ravaged Palestinian territory and how to fund its reconstruction.
“We’re at a very important historic juncture in the Arab-Israeli or Israeli-Palestinian conflict… where potentially the United States under Trump could create new facts on the ground that are irreversible,” Andreas Krieg, a King’s College London expert said.
Trump triggered global outrage when he proposed the United States “take over the Gaza Strip” and relocate its more than two million residents to Egypt and Jordan. A source close to the Saudi government told AFP that Arab leaders would discuss “a reconstruction plan to counter Trump’s plan for Gaza”.
The Gaza Strip is largely in ruins after more than 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas, with the United Nations recently estimating that rebuilding would cost more than $53 billion.
During a meeting with Trump in Washington on February 11, Jordan’s King Abdullah II said Egypt would present a plan for a way forward.
The Saudi source said the delegates would discuss “a version of the Egyptian plan”.
The official Saudi Press Agency, citing an official, confirmed on Thursday that Egypt and Jordan were participating in the Riyadh summit along with the six country members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
It also said decisions issued by the “unofficial fraternal meeting” would appear on the agenda of an emergency Arab League summit to be held in Egypt on March 4.
An Arab diplomat told AFP the meeting was supposed to start at 3 pm (1200 GMT).
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi arrived in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, his office said. (AFP)