Former U.S. President Donald Trump’s initiative to relocate Gaza’s residents to neighboring countries such as Egypt and Jordan sparked widespread controversy. However, officials within his administration sought to clarify the dimensions of this proposal.
According to the Wall Street Journal, officials in the Trump administration stated that “the United States and regional partners could offer guarantees allowing Palestinians to eventually return.” These guarantees, they noted, aim to make the idea more politically acceptable to Arab countries.
When questioned about Trump’s plan, administration officials described Gaza as “a barren land filled with rubble and unexploded munitions, whose reconstruction would be significantly facilitated by the departure of its residents.”
A senior Trump administration official explained, “You cannot demand that people remain in an uninhabitable location for political reasons.” He added that Palestinians could potentially receive guarantees enabling their eventual return following negotiations with regional partners.
Former officials observed that “the Israeli far-right’s decision to embrace Trump’s proposal has made garnering Arab support for the initiative far more challenging.”
Gordon Sondland, Trump’s ambassador to the European Union during his first term, commented that he had seen plans to modernize infrastructure in the region during negotiations over the Abraham Accords. He noted that as long as there were “strict guarantees” ensuring Palestinians’ return to their homes in Gaza, Trump’s proposal could be considered “a brilliant idea.”
Earlier, Egypt, Jordan, and Palestinian factions had outright rejected Trump’s remarks, in which he expressed a desire to see Jordan, Egypt, and other Arab nations increase the number of Palestinian refugees they accept from Gaza. Trump suggested relocating enough residents to “cleanse” the region.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi reaffirmed his country’s firm stance against any attempts to displace Palestinians.
In a press conference, Safadi emphasized that the two-state solution is the only viable path to achieving peace in the region. He further asserted that Amman would never accept any resolution to the Palestinian cause at Jordan’s expense.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement rejecting any infringement on Palestinian rights, whether through settlement expansion, land annexation, or the forced removal of Palestinians from their homes via displacement or encouragement to relocate—temporarily or permanently.
The Egyptian statement warned that such measures threaten regional stability, risk further escalation of the conflict, and undermine prospects for peace and coexistence among the region’s peoples.
Egypt also called on the international community to take concrete steps toward implementing a two-state solution, which includes establishing a fully sovereign Palestinian state on its national soil, unifying Gaza and the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), in line with international resolutions.
For its part, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) praised Egypt and Jordan’s principled rejection of any attempts to displace or uproot Palestinians from their land under any pretext.
In a statement, Hamas urged the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to reaffirm their categorical opposition to all forms of Palestinian displacement.
The movement further called on “the Arab League and the OIC to strongly reject any form of forced displacement of the Palestinian people and to support their national rights to establish an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.”
