Egypt to host emergency Arab League summit after Trump announces plan to displace 1.8 million Palestinians and 'take over Gaza'
Egypt is to host an emergency Arab League summit later this month to discuss "new and dangerous developments" after Trump announced his plan to displace 1.8 million Palestinians and turn Gaza into 'the Riviera of the Middle East'.
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Egypt has announced it will host an emergency Arab summit on February 27 to discuss "new and dangerous developments" after US President Donald Trump proposed to resettle Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
Mr Trump's suggestion, made at a White House meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week, infuriated the Arab world, including Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia - key allies of Washington.
The plan also drew sharp criticism from human rights organisations, as it is considered a call to ethnically cleanse the Gaza Strip and forcibly displace Palestinians - which is illegal under international humanitarian law.
Both Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Jordanian King Abdullah II dismissed Mr Trump's call to resettle 1.8 million Palestinians in Gaza and for the US to take ownership of the enclave, but Trump claimed that they would eventually accept it.
A statement from Egypt's Foreign Ministry said it would host the Arab League summit in Cairo following talks at the highest level in Arab countries in recent days, "including the state of Palestine that asked to hold the summit in order to discuss new and dangerous developments for the Palestinian cause".
Donald Trump insisted that "everybody loves" his proposal for the US to "take over" Gaza following his meeting with Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu, who stands accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
After the meeting, Trump had suggested turning the Gaza Strip into the "Riviera of the Middle East" and relocate Palestinians to neighbouring Arab states.
It was an idea that was met with widespread condemnation from neighbouring nations - as well as the wider world, with Palestinians telling Donald Trump to “go to hell” on Wednesday.
US Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told the media that Trump “expects” countries in the Middle East to “step up and to accept Palestinian refugees who will be temporarily relocated for the rebuilding of Gaza”.
"Trump has not committed to putting boots on the ground," she told the media, adding this "does not mean American taxpayers will be funding soldiers".
In the hours that followed the US President's comments, the UAE also rejected the idea of evicting around two million Palestinians from Gaza.
In a statement, the UAE foreign ministry “stressed its categorical rejection of any infringement on the Palestinians’ unalienable rights, and any attempts of displacement”.
Hours later, a pro-Trump group of Arab Americans changed its name, effectively cutting ties with the US president.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Emirati Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed "the importance of halting any settlement activities which threaten regional stability and undermine the opportunities for peace and co-existence".
It also "underscored the importance of preventing the expansion of the scale of conflict in the region, highlighting that the priority following the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip must focus on eliminating extremism, tensions, violence, and providing protection for all civilians."
It comes as Hezbollah described Donald Trump’s plans to relocate Palestinians out of Gaza as “criminal orders”.
On Tuesday, Trump had announced plans for US ownership of the Gaza Strip, declaring "the Gaza thing has never worked."
During a press conference late on Tuesday following his meeting with Netanyahu, the US president went on to describe how Gaza had been a "very unlucky place for a long time".
He added that together, the US and Israel would return "peace" and "prosperity" to the region going forward and proposed a US-owned land where Palestinians could live "peacefully".
Speaking on Wednesday, one Gaza resident said: "Trump can go to hell, with his ideas, with his money, and with his beliefs."
Speaking with Sky News from Gaza City, he added: "We are going nowhere. We are not some of his assets."
The father-of-five added: "If he wants to resolve this conflict, he should take the Israelis and put them in one of the states [in the US].
"They are the strangers, not the Palestinians. We are the owners of the land."