Jordan’s King Abdullah II has grow to be the primary Arab chief to meet Donald Trump within the White Home since america president’s second time period started on January 20.
Tuesday’s sit-down with Trump, nevertheless, put Abdullah in a fragile state of affairs.
Whereas Jordan and the US have traditionally had sturdy ties, Trump has repeatedly pressured Abdullah and his authorities to simply accept displaced Palestinians from war-torn Gaza, the place Israel has performed a navy assault since October 2023.
The US, in the meantime, has stated it could “take over” and “personal” a Gaza emptied of its residents, a proposal critics stated would quantity to ethnic cleansing.
“It’s not a posh factor to do,” Trump stated once more on Tuesday. “With america being answerable for that piece of land — that pretty giant piece of land — you’re going to have stability within the Center East for the primary time.”
Each Jordan and its ally Egypt have refused to simply accept forcibly displaced Palestinians.
Abdullah’s assembly got here as a latest ceasefire in Gaza dangers unravelling. Israel has threatened — on the again of remarks from Trump himself — to restart bombing on Saturday if the Palestinian group Hamas doesn’t launch all captives by Saturday.
However Abdullah averted straight contradicting Trump throughout their assembly, alluding as a substitute to a future plan from Egypt.
Listed below are among the key takeaways from the assembly between Abdullah and Trump.
Trump doubles down on Gaza takeover plan (once more)
Contained in the Oval Workplace, journalists requested Trump about his feedback that the US would take over Gaza and that the Palestinians dwelling there can be moved elsewhere, with no right of return.
He was direct in his responses, seemingly deaf to the incredulous nature of among the questions. Sure, the US would take management of Gaza and rebuild it. Sure, the Palestinians who’ve been dwelling there for generations — a lot of them already refugees from what’s now Israel — would transfer to “parcels of land” in Jordan and Egypt.
“We’re going to take it. We’re going to carry it. We’re going to cherish it. We’re going to get it going finally the place loads of jobs are going to be created for the folks within the Center East,” Trump stated, with out giving specifics.
Trump additionally doubled down on his threats that the ceasefire with Israel would finish if Hamas’s leaders don’t launch the remaining Israeli captives held within the enclave over the subsequent 4 days.
“I don’t assume they’re going to make the deadline, personally,” Trump stated. “They wish to play powerful man. We’ll see how powerful they’re.”
He added that he wouldn’t settle for a slower timeline: “They both have them out by Saturday at 12 o’clock or all bets are off.”
Trump had introduced that deadline a day earlier, in seemingly off-the-cuff feedback with reporters.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has since echoed Trump’s threats, warning that his navy — which has already killed greater than 61,700 Palestinians since 2023 — would recommence its bombing marketing campaign in Gaza if the Israeli captives weren’t launched.
One problem Trump did appear to again down on, at the very least in entrance of Abdullah and the cameras, was his menace that support may very well be withheld from Jordan and Egypt if they don’t conform to his Gaza displacement plan.
“I don’t need to threaten that,” Trump stated. “I do imagine we’re above that.”
Abdullah diplomatic, however says Arab states have personal plan for Gaza
In assembly with Trump, the Jordanian monarch was confronting a difficult task: How was he going to reiterate his nation’s opposition to Trump’s Gaza plan with out offending a president not identified for his tolerance for dissent?
In the long run, Abdullah selected to keep away from talking an excessive amount of in entrance of the media, and when he did, his language was cautious, exact and designed to keep away from offence.
When requested whether or not Jordan would absorb Palestinians displaced from Gaza, the Jordanian chief stated he would do what was “finest” for his nation.
In social media posts after the assembly, he stated that Jordan was “steadfast” in its “place in opposition to the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Financial institution”.
He added that Arab states would provide you with their very own plan for Gaza, which might be introduced after it was finalised. He additionally flattered Trump, saying: “I lastly see any individual that may take us throughout the end line to convey stability, peace and prosperity to all of us within the area.”
After the assembly, Jordan’s Overseas Minister Ayman Safadi additionally stated that there’s an Arab plan to rebuild Gaza with out displacing its folks.
Some observers imagine that Trump’s Gaza plan is a negotiating tactic and that Arab states will be capable to provide you with a counteroffer.
Trump focuses on actual property, not Palestinian attachment to land
The US president, in fact, has his roots in the true property enterprise.
A lot of Trump’s cash comes from the true property empire he inherited from his father, and he has since leveraged his household title to license eponymous merchandise, in addition to host a actuality TV present.
A few of these actual property leanings, nevertheless, bled into the language he has used when describing his Gaza plan on Tuesday.
“I’ve had an incredible profession in actual property,” Trump stated nostalgically. “While you’ve executed what I’ve executed, you’ll be able to simply do extra good for folks once you’re president.”
Trump described Gaza as probably changing into a “diamond” within the Center East. Nonetheless, when requested on Tuesday if he would think about buying Gaza as a part of his takeover plan, Trump was dismissive.
“We’re not going to purchase. There’s nothing to purchase,” Trump stated. “We could have Gaza. No cause to purchase. It’s Gaza. It’s a war-torn space.”
Critics say his imaginative and prescient for Gaza — redeveloped with lodges, workplaces and a “riviera” environment — appears divorced from the politics of the area. Palestinians have lengthy withstood pressures to pressure them from their remaining land, regardless of a long time of continued Israeli occupation.
On Tuesday, Trump as soon as once more emphasised that Palestinians wouldn’t wish to keep in Gaza, seemingly ignoring their attachment to their land.
That nationalism was most lately seen when a whole bunch of hundreds of displaced Palestinians used the ceasefire to return to northern Gaza, even when most of their properties had been destroyed by Israel. The vast majority of them made the journey on foot.
Their message was a easy one: that they weren’t going to depart once more.
