Arab leaders met in Cairo, Egypt, for an emergency meeting to come up with an alternative plan to the one promoted by United States President, Donald Trump, for the Gaza Strip’s reconstruction. Trump’s proposition of Egypt and Jordan taking in the Palestinian population of the Strip while it is turned into some kind of ‘riviera’ has, if nothing else, pushed Arab leaders to take notice and push back with their own alternative. The outcome from Cairo was close to what was expected, which was, much like Trump, a mere Arab-led band-aid to the Palestine issue and the war between Hamas and Israel. The future of Hamas in the Gaza Strip should be at the core of both a political future and the proverbial reconstruction effort. While the summit endorsed a US$53 billion plan to devise a new blueprint for Gaza’s rebuilding, it shied away from the more contentious political questions, including Hamas as the main political and military actor and the question of offerings towards Israel’s security dilemmas. The Arab proposal’s main aim was to create a buffer and present a united front against not just Trump’s plan against Egypt and Jordan but also to be seen not as bystanders around a growing narrative of forced displacement. Both the US and Israel have rejected the Arab proposal.
Gaza reconstruction opens an Arab-Trump faultline (Kabit Taneja, Observer Research Foundation)
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