Cairo (AP) – Israel said on Thursday that it started with the preparations for the departure of large numbers of Palestinians From the Gaza Strip In accordance with President Donald Trump’s plan for the territory.
In the meantime, officials said that Egypt has launched a diplomatic Blitz behind the scenes to try to distract the plan.
The Trump government already has that Chosen aspects of the proposal After it was Internationally rejectedsay that the relocation of Palestinians would be temporary. American officials have provided few details about how or when the plan would be implemented.
In a social media post on Thursday, Trump said that Israel would transfer to the United States after the war and that no American soldiers would be needed for his plan to redevelop it.
The Palestinians have severely rejected Trump’s proposal, for fear that Israel would never allow refugees to return. Egypt has warned that a removal of Palestinians would destabilize the region and undermine its peace treaty with Israel, a cornerstone of stability and American influence for decades.
Saudi -Arabia, another important American ally, has also rejected every mass transfer of Palestinians and says that it will not normalize relations with Israel – an important goal of the Trump government – without the establishment of a Palestinian state that includes Gaza.
Trump and Israeli officials have depicted the proposed relocation of Gaza destroyed by war as voluntary, but the Palestinians have universally expressed Their determination to stay in their home country.
Trump and Israeli officials did not say how they would respond if Palestinians refuse to leave. But Human Rights Watch and other groups say that, if implemented, the plan would amount to ‘ethnic cleaning’, the forced relocation of the civilian population of an ethnic group from a geographical area.
The Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz said that he has instructed the army to make the preparations to facilitate the emigration of large numbers of Gaza Palestinians through land transitions, as well as “special regulations for exit by sea and air.”
There were no immediate signs of such preparations on the ground.
Egypt has a campaign behind the scenes
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sissi has not publicly responded to Trump’s amazing proposal that most Gaza’s population is moved of 2.3 million Palestinians and the United States takes the lead over the rebuilding of the territory. The 15-month campaign of Israel against the militant Hamas group Reduced large parts of Gaza to rubble Before a fragile ceases -the fire last month.
But Egyptian officials, who speak on Wednesday on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door interviews, said Cairo the Trump government and Israel have made it clear that it will resist such a proposal, and that the peace agreement with Israel that has almost been stood by For almost half a century – is in danger.
An officer said that the message was delivered to the Pentagon, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the members of the US Congress. A second officer said it was also transferred to Israel and his Western European allies, including Great -Britain, France and Germany.
A Western diplomat in Cairo, who also speaks anonymously because the discussions were not made public, confirmed the receipt of Egypt’s message through multiple channels. The diplomat said that Egypt was very serious and the plan considered a threat to national security.
The diplomat said that Egypt rejected similar proposals from the Biden administration and European countries in the war, which was fueled by Hamas’ attack on October 7, 2023 in South Israel. The earlier proposals were led privately, while Trump announced his plan at a press conference of the White House next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
American officials scales Trump’s proposal back
Trump said that he wanted to take the majority of the Gaza population in other countries and the United States on the cleaning of debris and rebuilding Gaza as a “Riviera of the Middle East” for all people. He does not rule out the effort of American troops there.
American officials seemed to walk back latersay that the relocation of Palestinians would be temporary and that Trump had not promised to put American boots on the ground or to publish American tax dollars in Gaza.
The Egyptian officials said that their government does not believe that the Palestinians should be moved for the reconstruction to continue and commit themselves to the establishment of a Palestinian state in Gaza, the Western Jordoever and East -Jerusalem, Territoria Israel seized in the Midden -Oosten War from 1967.
The Israeli government is against the Palestinian State and has said that it will retain an open security check about both Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Israel annexed East Jerusalem in a movement that is not recognized by most international community and regards the entire city as its capital.
Last week Egypt organized a meeting of top diplomats from Jordan, Saudi -Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates -which was the driving force behind the 2020 Abraham agreement, Trump mediated with Israel. All five Arab countries rejected the transfer of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank.
Go advertising and protect the free press
Support Huffpost
Have you already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.
In a main article on Thursday, the most important state of Egypt, Al-Ahram, warned that “the independence of the Arab countries, the unity of their peoples and their territorial integrity are under great threat.”
Associated Press writer Natalie Melzer in Nahariya, Israel, has contributed to this report.