Laith Al-jnaidi
26 January 2025•Update: 27 January 2025
AMMAN, Jordan
Jordan and Egypt reiterated their rejection of the resettlement of Palestinians on Sunday after US President Donald Trump’s call to “clean out” the Gaza Strip.
"Our principles are clear, and Jordan’s steadfast position to uphold the Palestinians' presence on their land remains unchanged and will never change," Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told a joint press conference in Amman with Sigrid Kaag, the UN Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza.
Jordan's rejection of resettlement “is steadfast and essential for achieving the stability and peace we all seek,” Safadi said.
"The solution to the Palestinian issue lies in Palestine; Jordan is for Jordanians and Palestine is for Palestinians,” he added.
The top diplomat said that Jordan “looks forward to working with the US administration to achieve peace in the region."
Egypt also rejected Trump’s call to resettle Palestinians outside their territories.
In a statement, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry affirmed "Egypt's continued support for the resilience of the Palestinian people on their land and their commitment to their legitimate rights in their homeland, in accordance with international law and international humanitarian law."
It emphasized "its rejection of any infringement on these inalienable rights, whether through (Israeli) settlement expansion, land annexation, or the removal of Palestinians from their land through resettlement, encouragement of transfer, or uprooting, whether temporary or long-term."
The statement considered such actions a "threat to stability, a warning of an expanded regional conflict, and a barrier to opportunities for peace and coexistence among the region's peoples."
Egypt urged "the international community to work toward the actual implementation of the two-state solution, including the establishment of a Palestinian state on its full national territory, in the context of the unity of Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in accordance with international legitimacy resolutions and the borders of June 4, 1967."
Egypt “cannot be part of any solution involving the transfer of Palestinians into the Sinai,” the Egyptian Embassy in Washington said, citing an opinion piece published by Ambassador Motaz Zahran on the US website The Hill in October 2023.
Describing Gaza as a "demolition site," Trump said Saturday that “we (should) just clean out” the Palestinian enclave and resettle Palestinians in Jordan and Egypt.
“I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing at a different location where they can maybe live in peace for a change,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One.
“You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say, ‘You know, it’s over,’” he added.
His proposal came a week after a ceasefire agreement took effect in Gaza on Jan. 19, suspending Israel’s genocidal war that has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and injured more than 111,000 since Oct. 7, 2023.
The Israeli onslaught has left more than 11,000 people missing, with widespread destruction and a humanitarian crisis that has claimed the lives of many elderly people and children in one of the worst global humanitarian disasters ever.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants in November last year for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala
