After Trump’s proposal to evacuate Gazans, rarely unified Arab leaders scramble to present united front

After U.S. President Donald Trump presented – and then doubled down – on his idea to evacuate Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, five Arab foreign ministers convened an emergency meeting to create a united front against the plan and to find alternative proposals, Kan News reported on Tuesday.

Arab leaders are nervously following developments ahead of the meeting between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday evening, the report added, suspecting possible cooperation between them to advance the idea.

Last Saturday, the chief diplomats from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar – all important U.S. allies – met in Cairo to discuss the issue.

They were joined by Palestinian Presidential Advisor Hussein al-Sheikh, according to the Axios news outlet.

The ministers reportedly agreed to move up a previously scheduled larger meeting of Arab foreign ministers to this month in an effort to reach broader agreements. They also sent a joint message to the newly appointed U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

In the letter, which, according to Axios was delivered to the State Department on Monday, the ministers stressed their intention to cooperate with Trump’s “vision of peace” for the region while emphasizing that a two-state solution would be the best way of doing so and providing security for Israelis and Palestinians.

Noting that the Middle East is already “burdened by the largest displaced and refugee populations in the world,” they cautioned against increasing “the risk to regional stability by further displacement, even if only temporary, as it increases the risk of radicalization and unrest in the region as a whole.”

The foreign ministers also stressed that Palestinians should “help rebuild” the enclave that has been devastated after months of war.

Gazans “should not be stripped of their agency during reconstruction and must take ownership of the process with the support of the international community,” they added.

“Palestinians do not want to leave their land. We support their position unequivocally. Such a move will add a new dangerous dimension to the conflict,” they wrote.

The diplomats also raised alternative ideas to Trump’s proposal, intending to be able to present plans to rapidly improve the situation of the over 2 million Palestinians in Gaza until reconstruction efforts begin.

Egypt further announced it will host an international conference in Cairo for the reconstruction of Gaza, together with the United Nations, in the near future.

Over the last several weeks, the idea of relocating a portion of Gaza's over 2 million residents during reconstruction has been repeatedly proposed.

Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, brought up the idea of transferring some Gazans to Indonesia. Days later, the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, denied reports by Israeli media that his government was negotiating with the Trump administration to take in as many as 100,000 Palestinians.