Egypt Galvanizes Arab Momentum against Trump’s Gaza Plan

Palestinians walk between destroyed buildings in Al-Remal neighborhood amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, 07 February 2025. (EPA)
Palestinians walk between destroyed buildings in Al-Remal neighborhood amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, 07 February 2025. (EPA)
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Egypt Galvanizes Arab Momentum against Trump’s Gaza Plan

Palestinians walk between destroyed buildings in Al-Remal neighborhood amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, 07 February 2025. (EPA)
Palestinians walk between destroyed buildings in Al-Remal neighborhood amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, 07 February 2025. (EPA)

Egypt said on Friday it had been in contact with Arab partners including Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to firm up the region's rejection of any displacement of Palestinians after US President Donald Trump said they should go from Gaza.

Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty had been in communication with counterparts from 11 nations, a statement said.

Those had emphasized "the constants of the Arab position on the Palestinian cause, rejecting any measures aimed at displacing the Palestinian people from their land, or encouraging their transfer to other countries outside the Palestinian territories," it said.

Trump has suggested the US take control of Gaza from Israel and create a "Riviera of the Middle East" after resettling Palestinians elsewhere including Egypt and Jordan. But Arab nations want to see a two-state solution with a separate Palestinian homeland alongside Israel.

Moving Palestinians would represent "flagrant violation of international law, an infringement on Palestinian rights, a threat to security and stability in the region and an undermining of opportunities for peace and coexistence among its peoples," Egypt's statement said.

Rather, Egypt was looking with other Arab nations at how to rebuild and clean up Gaza after Israel's military campaign decimated the strip in response to Palestinian group Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border attack on Israel.

Egyptian security sources told Reuters that the nation's presidency, military and intelligence were united in rejecting Trump's plan despite disagreements on how to respond.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has said Egyptians would take to the streets to oppose resettling Palestinians.

Egypt has helped broker the Gaza ceasefire with Qatar and the US.



German, Austrian Ministers Break Off Planned Syria Trip Because of Possible Threat

27 March 2025, Jordan, Amman: Nancy Faeser (L), Germany's acting Minister of the Interior and Home Affairs, and Gerhard Karner, Austrian Minister of the Interior, inform the members of their delegations a hotel in Amman that their trip to Syria has been canceled. Photo: Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
27 March 2025, Jordan, Amman: Nancy Faeser (L), Germany's acting Minister of the Interior and Home Affairs, and Gerhard Karner, Austrian Minister of the Interior, inform the members of their delegations a hotel in Amman that their trip to Syria has been canceled. Photo: Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
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German, Austrian Ministers Break Off Planned Syria Trip Because of Possible Threat

27 March 2025, Jordan, Amman: Nancy Faeser (L), Germany's acting Minister of the Interior and Home Affairs, and Gerhard Karner, Austrian Minister of the Interior, inform the members of their delegations a hotel in Amman that their trip to Syria has been canceled. Photo: Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
27 March 2025, Jordan, Amman: Nancy Faeser (L), Germany's acting Minister of the Interior and Home Affairs, and Gerhard Karner, Austrian Minister of the Interior, inform the members of their delegations a hotel in Amman that their trip to Syria has been canceled. Photo: Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa

The German and Austrian interior ministers broke off a planned trip to Syria on Thursday because of a possible threat to their delegation, German authorities said.
Germany's Nancy Faeser had planned to visit Damascus with Austrian counterpart Gerhard Karner, and a German military plane was supposed to fly Faeser's delegation into Syria from Jordan on Thursday morning.
But her ministry said that the trip was broken off before the flight could depart from Amman “because of concrete warnings by German security authorities of a terrorist threat,” German news agency dpa reported. It added that a threat to the delegation couldn't be ruled out, and that it wouldn't have been responsible to travel in view of that possible threat.
The trip hadn't been announced ahead of time. The two ministers had planned to speak with ministers in the interim government and with representatives of UN aid organizations, The Associated Press said.
Germany in particular has been a major destination for Syrian refugees over the past decade.
Last week, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock visited Damascus and reopened the German Embassy, 13 years after it was shut in the early days of Syria’s civil war.
Baerbock, who met interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa and others, said Europe needs “eyes and ears” on the ground as it follows the Syrian political transition. It was her second visit since the fall of former President Bashar Assad in December.