BBC News
King Abdullah of Jordan has rejected Donald Trump’s plan to resettle Palestinians in the kingdom.
Following a meeting with Trump at the White House on Tuesday, Abdullah wrote on X that Jordan remained “steadfast” against “the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. This is the unified Arab position.”
It was the first meeting between the pair since Trump announced his proposal to take over Gaza and move its population of two million Palestinians to other countries in the region, including Jordan.
Earlier this week, Trump suggested he could withhold aid to Jordan and Egypt unless they agreed to take in those Palestinians from Gaza.
Jordan, a key US ally in the Middle East, is already home to millions of Palestinians.
While the King volunteered to accept up to 2,000 Palestinian children from Gaza in need of medical care, he stressed that rebuilding Gaza and addressing its humanitarian crisis should take precedence over relocation efforts.
But speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, with King Abdullah seated to his right, Trump signalled he would not shift on his idea which triggered global condemnation when he unveiled it last week.
“We’re going to take it. We’re going to hold it. We’re going to cherish it,” he said of Gaza.
Trump claimed that “a lot of jobs” would be created across the region if a US takeover of the devastated territory were to happen.
“I think it could be a diamond,” he said, adding that he now believes the US is “above” having to threaten other countries to participate.
The King sat quietly next to Trump as the president repeated a proposal that would upend decades of established US policy and could amount to a breach of international law, which prohibits the forcible transfer of populations.
The UN has warned that any forced displacement of civilians from occupied territory is strictly prohibited under international law and is “tantamount to ethnic cleansing”.
Trump on Tuesday appeared to dodge a question about that UN warning.
“We’re moving them to a beautiful location where they can have new homes, where they can live safely, where they can have doctors and medical and all of those things,” he said.
Jordan already hosts millions of people descended from Palestinian refugees who were forced from the land that became Israel in 1948, alongside those whose roots lie firmly east of the River Jordan.
“I believe we’ll have a parcel of land in Jordan. I believe we’ll have a parcel of land in Egypt,” Trump said. “We may have someplace else, but I think when we finish our talks, we’ll have a place where they’re going to live very happily and very safely.”
King Abdullah said during the meeting that the matter would be discussed and both sides should “wait until the Egyptians” can present their ideas.
The deal with Egypt is believed to be a proposal for the future governance of Gaza, backed by other Arab states as a way to counteract Trump’s plan.
While still being formulated, it is thought the proposal could involve a local administration of technocrats drawn from Palestinians in Gaza, without affiliating to factions including Hamas.
Since first revealing the US proposal during a news conference last week alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump has repeatedly doubled down on his plan for Gaza, saying he is “committed to buying and owning” it.
In an interview with Fox News broadcast earlier this week, Trump said Gaza’s two million residents would be resettled and have no right to return.
“They wouldn’t, because they have much better housing,” he said. “I’m talking about building a permanent place for them.”
