Donald Trump received King Abdullah II of Jordan at the White House on Tuesday, where he insisted on his proposal, questioned almost worldwide, to relocate all Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, and for the United States to seize it to transform it into a tourist destination.
The proposed plan to drastically reshape the Middle East would require Jordan and other Arab nations like Egypt to accept the displaced people from Gaza, something to which the Jordanian king opposes and reiterated following his meeting with the U.S. president.
Trump and Abdullah met in the Oval Office, where U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was also present.
What did Trump say to the King of Jordan?
Nonetheless, Trump indicated that he "would not withhold U.S. aid to Jordan or Egypt" if they do not accept a greater number of displaced individuals from Gaza.
“I don’t have to threaten that. I think we’re above that”, manifestó Trump. That contradicts the prior insinuation by the Republican that withholding Washington’s aid was a possibility.
Regarding his plan to control Gaza, Trump said that “We are not going to buy anything. We are going to have it”. He suggested that the remodeled area could have new hotels, office buildings, and homes, “y lo haremos emocionante”.
Abdullah II was repeatedly asked about Trump’s plan to depopulate Gaza and reshape it as a resort on the Mediterranean Sea, but he did not make substantive comments on the matter, nor did he commit to the idea that his country would accept large numbers of new refugees from Gaza.
However, he said that Jordan would be willing to immediately receive “up to 2,000 children from Gaza suffering from cancer or other diseases.”
The Jordanian king spoke once he left the White House
Abdullah II left the White House after approximately two hours and headed to the Capitol to meet with legislators from both parties. There he posted on X that during his meeting with Trump, “I reiterated Jordan’s steadfast position against the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank”.
“This is the unified Arab position. Rebuilding Gaza without displacing the Palestinians and addressing the dire humanitarian situation should be the priority for everyone,” wrote the Jordanian monarch.
The king’s visit comes at a dangerous time for the ceasefire in Gaza. Hamas accuses Israel of violating the truce and said it would pause future releases of captured hostages from its attack on October 7, 2023, while Benjamin Netanyahu’s government assured that it would resume military actions if the people still held captive are not released by this Saturday before noon.
Jordan hosts more than 2 million Palestinians. In addition to concerns about jeopardizing the longstanding goals of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Egypt and Jordan have privately raised security concerns about hosting large numbers of additional refugees in their countries, even if it were temporarily.