Jordan’s King Abdullah II has told Donald Trump that Arab nations are united in opposition to the US president’s plan to take over Gaza and relocate Palestinians.
“I reiterated Jordan’s steadfast position against the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank,” Abdullah said on social media on Tuesday after talks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC
“This is the unified Arab position,” he stated.
However, Abdullah told Trump that his country would take in some 2,000 sick Palestinian children.
“One of the things that we can do right away is take 2,000 children, cancer children who are in a very ill state. That is possible,” Abdullah said as Trump welcomed him in the Oval Office.
Trump replied that it was “really a beautiful gesture” and claimed he didn’t know about it before the Jordanian king arrived at the White House.
In addition, he also told Trump that Egypt was working on a plan for how countries in the region could “work” with the US president on the proposal.
Ahead of his tense meeting with Trump at the White House in Washington, King Abdullah called for the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The king was the first Arab leader to meet with Trump since he assumed office last month.
The meeting came amid uproar caused by Trump’s call to take over the besieged Gaza Strip and relocate Palestinians to neighboring countries.
Trump has repeatedly stated that Jordan and Egypt will take in Palestinians from the blockaded Palestinian region, an idea that Amman and Cairo have flatly rejected.
The US president has suggested that he could deny aid to Jordan and Egypt if they didn’t accept his proposal. “If they don’t agree, I would conceivably withhold aid.”
Jordan receives $1.45 billion a year in US aid. Jordanian officials have said the Arab country is prepared to go without it.
“American aid is important and necessary for the budget, constituting 10 percent of the state’s budget, but if it is linked to the issue of relocation, we will not hesitate to forgo it,” a Jordanian official was quoted as saying.
King Abdullah has rejected any attempts to annex land and displace Palestinians after a shock proposal by Trump that the US take over Gaza.
The US leader stunned the world when he announced a proposal last week for the United States to “take over” Gaza, envisioning rebuilding the devastated territory into the “Riviera of the Middle East” — but only after resettling Palestinians elsewhere.
On Tuesday, Abdullah urged patience and said that Egypt was coming up with a response and that Arab nations would then discuss it at talks in Riyadh.
“Let’s wait until the Egyptians can come and present it to the president and not get ahead of ourselves,” Abdullah said.
On Friday, thousands of Jordanians took to the streets in Amman to protest against Trump’s plan.
Last week, well-placed sources in Amman said Jordan was ready to declare war on Israel if Palestinians were forcibly expelled into its territory. Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi confirmed that view two days later.
