Arab states to present alternative to Trump’s Gaza plan at March 4 summit

Abdelatty emphasized that the role of the E.U. and European countries is critical, especially in funding the rebuilding of the war-torn enclave.

By JNS

Cairo’s reconstruction proposal for the Gaza Strip, which seeks to put forward an alternative to U.S. President Donald Trump’s relocation plan, will be presented at an emergency Arab summit on Tuesday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told reporters.

“We will hold intensive talks with major donor countries once the plan is adopted at the upcoming Arab Summit,” Abdelatty declared, speaking on Sunday alongside E.U. Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Šuica.

Cairo’s counter-proposal will not be exclusively Egyptian or Arab but seeks to garner international support and funding to ensure its implementation in the coming years, according to Abdelatty.

Abdelatty said that following Tuesday’s summit in Cairo, there will be an urgent ministerial meeting in Saudi Arabia for the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, where foreign ministers of its 57 member states will push for the summit’s outcomes to be promoted worldwide.

Abdelatty emphasized that the role of the E.U. and European countries is critical, especially in funding the rebuilding of the war-torn enclave.

Egypt’s top diplomat stressed the importance of continuing the ceasefire deal that went into effect on Jan. 19, adding that Cairo will continue its efforts to ensure it is maintained and makes it to Phase 2.

“The first phase has concluded successfully, and now we must shift to discussions on the second phase, which is key to sustaining the ceasefire,” Abdelatty said. “Naturally, it will be difficult, but with goodwill and political determination, it can be achieved.”

Israel is backing the temporary ceasefire framework proposed by U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff for the Ramadan and Passover period, while the Hamas terrorist organization has flat-out rejected the proposal.

Last month, Trump announced his shock relocation proposal during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip,” the U.S. president announced.

“We’ll own it. … We have an opportunity to do something that could be phenomenal, … the Riviera of the Middle East,” Trump said. He later suggested that Gaza’s entire population should go to other countries.

Egypt and Jordan, which Trump suggested would absorb Palestinians, have condemned the U.S. plan to relocate Gaza’s two million residents.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that the Trump administration is open to “a better plan” from Arab nations.