Saudi Arabia has revealed it plans to host leaders of four Arab countries at a summit on February 20 to consider President Donald Trump's US 'takeover' plan for the Gaza Strip, officials told AFP Friday.
"The leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates will attend the summit, to take place ahead of an Arab League meeting in Cairo one week later on the same issue, the source said," as also cited in Al Jazeera.
Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmud Abbas is also expected to attend, at a moment the fragile Gaza truce deal could collapse at any moment, particularly after some of Trump's inflammatory statements on turning Gaza into the "Riviera of the Mediterranean" which would require removal of all Palestinians.
Proposals to be considered at the summit could involve a Gulf-led reconstruction fund, as well as a political deal for Hamas' exit from power, according to several officials.
Trump has been pressuring Egypt and Joran in particular, threatening to cut off crucial foreign and defense aid if they don't come on board his plan. He wants these neighboring states to absorb over 1.2 displaced Palestinians.
Yesterday in an extraordinarily surprising development, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ambassador to Washington signaled the possibility of removing all Palestinians from Gaza, in accordance with Trump's controversial Gaza plan.
UAE Ambassador to the US Yousef Al Otaiba in an interview called the plan "difficult but inevitable" and said he's sees "no alternative" but Trump's plan to expel Gaza's population and undertake massive economic redevelopment of the Strip. He had been asked by a reporter whether the UAE is working on a separate plan, to which he responded no, there's no other plan.
It was in September 2020 that the UAE announced the Trump-sponsored Abraham Accords for normalization with Israel. UAE has long been a close regional US-ally, but the ambassador's words are still deeply surprising and might actually contradict the UAE's current official stance.
Huge decline in life expectancy for Palestinians in Gaza:
But it seems the Saudi hosted Arab summit is precisely about coming up with an 'alternative' plan which could be offered instead of Trump's - which has sparked global backlash given the ethnic cleansing aspect of it.