From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, October 17, 2023
Jordan’s King Abdullah II: Palestinian refugees entering Jordan or Egypt is ‘red line’
Gianluca Pacchiani is the Arab affairs reporter for The Times of Israel
Jordanian King Abdullah II says that neither his country nor Egypt will accept Palestinian refugees, declaring it a “red line.”
At a press conference held after meeting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin, Abdullah says that “some of the usual suspects are trying to create facts on the ground,” according to Sky News Arabia.
“There will be no refugees in Jordan and no refugees in Egypt.”
Abdullah references Israeli calls for Gazans to evacuate toward the south of the Strip, near the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, ahead of an expected IDF ground offensive in the north.
Khaled Mashaal, a prominent Hamas figure and the former political leader of the group, said in an interview yesterday that Gazans will not leave the Strip no matter what, and that their displacement would harm Egyptian national security and would pose a danger for Jordan, implying that a mass exodus of Palestinians to a neighboring country could set also a precedent for the West Bank.
Nevertheless, there have been reports that Egypt is making preparations to host a limited number of civilians fleeing the conflict in Gaza.
