The President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has informed the US Secretary of State that his country rejects the proposal to relocate the Palestinians from their land to neighboring countries, according to the UAE’s official news agency, WAM.
The statement by President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan came after US President Donald Trump suggested the US take control of the Gaza Strip and relocate its Palestinian residents to Jordan and Egypt. The proposal was met with strong disapproval in the Arab world and among Western allies.
Nahyan told US Senator Marco Rubio during a meeting in Abu Dhabi that it is essential to connect the rebuilding of the Gaza Strip with a path that leads to a “comprehensive and lasting peace based on the two-state solution” in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The UAE’s stance on the conflict is significant, as it is one of the four Arab countries that normalized relations with Israel during the Trump administration and played a role in financing the rebuilding process after previous conflicts.
Arab diplomacy on the Gaza Strip aims to develop an alternative to Trump’s plan for the area, which has been largely destroyed after Israel’s 15-month military campaign against Hamas and where nearly all of the 2.3 million residents have been left homeless.
It is expected that the heads of state and government from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the UAE and Qatar will discuss the plan this month in Riyadh, before it is presented at the Arab League summit in March in Cairo.