Washington – The king of Jordan, Abdullah II, for a long time, one of the closest allies in the United States, visited the White House on Tuesday to tell President Trump why a massive expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza to Jordan is not only illegal, It could also mean disaster for the kingdom of Hashemite.
Sitting next to Trump in the White House, Abdullah said it is “our collective responsibility in the Middle East continues to work with you, support him to achieve” the objectives of “stability, peace and prosperity for all of us in the region.”
But the king would not address the most impressive elements of Trump's last proposal for the Gaza Strip, announced days before the arrival of Abdullah, when Trump received the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump announced last week that the United States would take the Gaza Strip and supervise the forced displacement of almost 2 million Palestinians.
Trump said they should be relocated to Jordan and Egypt, a round rejected idea by these two nations, the Palestinians and the international community, which would consider an action such as ethnic cleaning. On Tuesday, Abdullah would only say that Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia would find “a plan” to present Washington.
The theme of Palestinian refugees deeply cuts in Jordan. Around 750,000 Palestinians were expelled, some of which fled Jordan, during what the Arabs call the 1948 Nakba, or “catastrophe”, when Israel was created. One of 300,000 additional refugees became the kingdom after the 1967 Middle East War, including those of Gaza.
Palestinian refugees now total almost 2.4 million, according to the United Nations.
The majority, but not all, were granted citizenship in Jordan. Many maintain strong ties with their Palestinian origins and care deeply about what happens in the West Bank and Gaza.
Hashemite's monarchy has had an awkward relationship with Palestinian activism. In 1970, King Hussein, Abdullah's father, crushed the Palestinian factions that operated in the country, coming so far as to bomb refugee camps in the capital and the north of the country. He also repeatedly faced the Palestinian Liberation Organization on the administration of Palestinian affairs.
The current and previous Jordanian leaders say that the influx of a new wave of Palestinians would represent an existential threat to the country and destabilize the Hashemitic dynasty represented by Abdullah and its ancestors.
Something nervous appearing while sitting next to Trump, Abdullah dodged the questions about Trump's plan, saying that he and a group of Arab leaders led by the Saudi heir prince Mohammed Bin Salman, would present a plan for Trump on a later date.
“While it is clear that the king did not want to seem confrontational in public, at the same time he could not accept what the president was proposing, which is equivalent to an ethnic cleaning of 2 million people,” Marwan Muasher, a former foreigner Jordano Minister Minister , he told the Times. “I think the king's suggestion, wait until there is a unified Arab position, is well located, because he will show that there is a very strong opposition to President Trump's plans.”
Later, Abdullah launched a series of publications on social networks that elaborated his position, and his opposition to Trump.
“I reiterated Jordan's firm position against the displacement of the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. This is the unified Arab position, “he wrote in X.” The reconstruction of Gaza without displacing the Palestinians and addressing the terrible humanitarian situation should be the priority for all. “
Abdullah added: “Achieving peace only on the basis of the solution of two states is the way to guarantee regional stability. This requires the leadership of us. “
He went to praise Trump for helping to ensure the high Gaza's fire.
“It is clear that the most important issue for the king is now to maintain a strategic relationship with this current administration of the United States, so he did not hear the direct rejections,” said Amer Sabaileh, an analyst based in Jordan.
The challenge for Abdullah, he said, is to convince Trump of Jordan's importance for stability in the region and not endanger the state of the kingdom.
The meetings in Washington arrived in the context of events in Israel, where Netanyahu threatened to put an end to the last high fire in Gaza and resume “intense struggles” there unless Israeli hostages were released on Saturday. It echoed, almost word by word, a threat of Trump that “all hell will explode” if the remaining hostages are not released.
During the weekend, the militant group Hamas threatened to postpone the next installment indefinitely, scheduled on Saturday, of three Israeli hostages under the terms of the truce.
“If Hamas does not return to our hostages for the noon on Saturday, the high fire will end and the [Israel Defense Forces] He will resume the intense fight until Hamas' final defeat, ”said Netanyahu after a meeting of his security cabinet, during which he instructed the Israeli army to the massive forces again in Gaza.
According to the Israeli media count, 76 Israeli remain in Gaza, almost half of them thought they are dead.
Bulos reported by Amman, Jordan. The Times personnel writer Laura King, in Tel Aviv, contributed to this report.
