Egypt and Jordan warned against any Israeli reoccupation in the Gaza Strip and appealed for uprooted residents to be allowed to return to their homes as the Arab countries’ leaders met Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday. While Israel presses forward with a military campaign it says will last for months, Abbas, Jordan’s King Abdullah, and Egypt’s Abdel Fattah al-Sisi also restated their rejection of any plans to displace Palestinians from their lands – a risk Egypt says has grown as Israel’s war against Hamas has driven most Gaza residents southward towards the Egyptian border.
Quick Read
- The leaders of Jordan, Egypt, and the Palestinian Authority called for Israel to halt its offensive in Gaza.
- They strongly opposed Israeli officials’ suggestions of removing Palestinians from Gaza, labeling such actions as potential ethnic cleansing.
- King Abdullah II of Jordan, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, all regional allies, have met multiple times during the three-month conflict between Israel and Hamas.
- The summit followed a meeting between Abbas and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
- Blinken is scheduled to meet with Egypt’s president, a central mediator between Israel and Hamas.
- Egypt and Jordan have signed peace treaties with Israel; the Palestinian Authority manages semi-autonomous areas in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
- The joint statement emphasized the need for an immediate cease-fire and condemned the proposed mass displacement of Palestinians.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that the proposals for resettlement do not reflect his government’s policy.
- The U.S. supports a revitalized Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza post-war. Hamas took control of Gaza from the Palestinian Authority in 2007, following its parliamentary election victory in 2006.
- Egypt and Jordan warned against any Israeli reoccupation of the Gaza Strip during a meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
- The Arab leaders appealed for displaced Gaza residents to be allowed to return home amid Israel’s ongoing military campaign.
- They reiterated their opposition to plans for displacing Palestinians, a concern heightened as most Gaza residents have moved southward towards the Egyptian border.
- Jordan expressed worry about increased attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.
- The leaders called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and rejected any attempts to reoccupy parts of it.
- Abbas met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, emphasizing the need for a ceasefire and the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza.
- The Palestinian Authority, with limited self-rule in the West Bank, had previously engaged in statehood talks with Israel.
- Egypt and Qatar are mediating between Israel and Hamas for a new ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages.
- Since the conflict’s escalation, Israel has inflicted significant casualties and displacement in Gaza.
- The Aqaba summit also focused on funding for Gaza’s reconstruction and the establishment of a governance mechanism post-ceasefire.
- Egypt and Jordan advocate for the unity of Gaza and the West Bank as the basis of a future Palestinian state.
- Despite calls for reduced civilian casualties, Israeli strikes in Gaza intensified.
- Over one million Gaza residents are facing overcrowded conditions near Rafah, with a total of 1.9 million displaced in the enclave.
The Associated Press has the story:
Egypt, Jordan and Palestinian Authority Leaders hold joint Summit
Newslooks- AMMAN, Jordan —
The leaders of Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority repeated their calls for Israel to halt its offensive in Gaza and rejected plans floated by some Israeli officials to remove Palestinians from the battered territory.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are regional allies and have met several times during the three-month war between and Israel and the Hamas militant group.
The summit came just after Abbas met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The secretary is set on Thursday to meet with Egypt’s president, who serves as a key mediator between Israel and Hamas. Egypt and Jordan have both signed peace treaties with Israel, and the Palestinian Authority administers semi-autonomous areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
In Wednesday’s joint statement, the three leaders repeated their calls for an immediate cease-fire and “the need to condemn” calls for mass displacement of Palestinians from Gaza or the occupied West Bank. Far-right members of Netanyahu’s government have called for them to be resettled elsewhere, which critics say would amount to ethnic cleansing. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said such calls do not reflect his policy.
The U.S. has called for a “revitalized” Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza after the war ends. Hamas ousted the Palestinian Authority from Gaza in 2007, after Hamas won parliamentary elections the previous year.
Egypt and Jordan warned against any Israeli reoccupation in the Gaza Strip and appealed for uprooted residents to be allowed to return to their homes as the Arab countries’ leaders met Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday.
While Israel presses forward with a military campaign it says will last for months, Abbas, Jordan’s King Abdullah, and Egypt’s Abdel Fattah al-Sisi also restated their rejection of any plans to displace Palestinians from their lands – a risk Egypt says has grown as Israel’s war against Hamas has driven most Gaza residents southward towards the Egyptian border.
Jordan has been concerned by increased instability and attacks on Palestinians by Jewish settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, with which it shares a border.
The international community needed to show a “decisive stance” to push for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, a statement issued by Sisi’s office said.
The three leaders confirmed “a complete rejection of any attempt to reoccupy parts of Gaza, and the need to enable its people to return to their homes”, the statement added.
Ahead of their summit in Aqaba, Jordan, Abbas met U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is on a tour of the region that is expected to finish in Egypt and has been pressing Israel’s leaders to offer a pathway to a Palestinian state.
“The Arabs are telling the Americans the priority now is to get a ceasefire and push Israel to allow Palestinians to go back to northern Gaza, and ease the overcrowding near (the southern town of) Rafah, which is alarming both the Egyptians and the Jordanians,” a Jordanian official said.
The Western-backed Palestinian Authority exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank and held talks with Israel on a Palestinian state before they collapsed in 2014. Islamist Hamas has ruled in Gaza since 2007 and is sworn to Israel’s destruction.
HOSTAGE NEGOTIATIONS
Egypt, along with Qatar, has separately been trying to mediate between Israel and Hamas to negotiate a new ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages that Hamas captured in its surprise Oct. 7 incursion into Israel.
That mediation has resumed following a pause after the killing last week of Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut, and an Israeli delegation visited Egypt on Tuesday to discuss the possibility of a long-term ceasefire in return for the freeing of hostages, two Egyptian security sources said.
Israel has killed more than 23,000 Palestinians in Gaza since launching its campaign to destroy Hamas, after its militants killed 1,200 Israelis and took 240 hostages in a cross-border rampage on Oct. 7 that triggered the war.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said earlier this month that after the war in Gaza, Israel would reserve freedom of operation for its army in the enclave but ruled out a return of Israeli settlements withdrawn in 2005.
The summit in Aqaba was also expected to discuss foreign funding needed to rebuild the devastated territory and a mechanism for electing officials to administer the strip within six months of a ceasefire deal, the Egyptian security sources said.
Egypt and Jordan have said that the fates of Gaza and the West Bank should not be separated, as these should be the basis of a future Palestinian state – a position included in the statements after the summit.
Israeli strikes in southern and central Gaza intensified on Wednesday despite a pledge by Israel that it would pull out some troops and shift to a more targeted campaign, and pleading from the U.S. for fewer civilian casualties.
More than one million of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents are crammed in extremely overcrowded conditions into the Rafah area, according to the United Nations. Some 1.9 million people are displaced throughout the coastal enclave, the U.N. estimates.
