Trump doubles down on proposal to move Gazans; insists Egypt and Jordan will agree
US president brushes aside staunch Arab opposition to idea that Strip’s residents leave territory, saying violence is endemic to Gaza; Albanian leader denies his country is in the mix

US President Donald Trump dug in his heels Monday over a controversial suggestion that large numbers of Gazans take refuge in Egypt and Jordan, shrugging off wall-to-wall opposition to the proposal from Arab leaders.
Fresh off what he said were calls with Egyptian counterpart Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi and Jordan’s King Abdullah, Trump insisted both leaders would take in Palestinians from the war-ravaged territory and said the issue would be discussed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when the two meet sometime soon, amid speculation in Israel that Trump’s gambit was being coordinated with Jerusalem.
Egyptian media on Tuesday cited government sources as saying that Trump and Sissi had yet to speak. If they did, Sissi’s office would issue a readout, the Egyptian officials told local media.
The US president on Saturday floated the idea to “clean out” Gaza after more than 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas had reduced the Palestinian territory to what he called a “demolition site.”
Asked about those comments, Trump told reporters on Air Force One Monday evening he would “like to get them living in an area where they can live without disruption and revolution and violence so much.”
“When you look at the Gaza Strip, it’s been hell for so many years,” Trump said. “There have been various civilizations on that strip. It didn’t start here. It started thousands of years before, and there’s always been violence associated with it. You could get people living in areas that are a lot safer and maybe a lot better and maybe a lot more comfortable.”
Both Egypt and Jordan have come out strongly against Trump’s idea, saying that Palestinians should be allowed to remain in Gaza and underlining concerns that Palestinians who decamp for safety may never be allowed to return. Members of Israel’s far right have called since the start of the war for reestablishing Isralei settlements there and have advocated for the “voluntary migration” of Palestinians from the enclave.

Albanian premier Edi Rama also denied on Monday an Israeli TV report that his country was in talks to take in as many as 100,000 Gazans.
“Albania has not been asked by anyone, nor can we even consider to take on any such responsibility,” he tweeted. “Albania is not in the Middle East itself, and from the heart of Europe, we cannot do more than any other European country in such a matter.”
Trump had been expected to bring up the issue during a call with Sissi Sunday. Asked how the Egyptian leader received the idea, Trump said Sissi’s “response [was] that he’d like to see peace in the Middle East.”
“I’d like to see peace in the Middle East,” Trump added.

Pressed further, Trump insisted that both the Egyptian and Jordanian leaders would come around.
“I’d love to do that,” he said. “I wish [Sissi] would take some. We helped them a lot, and I’m sure he’d help us. He’s a friend of mine. He’s in… a rough neighborhood. But I think he would do it, and I think the king of Jordan would do it too,” Trump added.
Abdullah spoke Monday with Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio, but the issue was not mentioned in a State Department statement on the call.
“The secretary and King Abdullah discussed implementation of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, the release of hostages, and creating a pathway for security and stability in the region,” it said in a statement.

Jordan’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, said Sunday that his country’s opposition to Trump’s suggestion was “firm and unwavering.”
Egypt’s foreign minister issued a statement saying that the temporary or long-term transfer of Palestinians “risks expanding the conflict in the region.” Trump said Saturday that he was open to either temporary or permanent resettlement for the Gazans.
Trump said Monday he would also bring up the issue with Netanyahu when the Israeli leader visits Washington “in the not so distant future.”
He said a date for the meeting would be set “very soon.”
Two sources familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel on Monday that Netanyahu’s office is planning for the premier to travel to Washington on Sunday for a four-day trip that will include a meeting with Trump. The trip has not been finalized and will depend on Netanyahu’s health as he recovers from prostate surgery, the sources said.

Some of Netanyahu’s allies had pushed the idea of resettling Gazans outside the Strip as a means of reducing harm to civilians during the war, but Palestinians and Arab states rejected the idea out of hand, fearing the displacement would become permanent. Many of Netanyahu’s far-right allies also supported reestablishing Israeli settlements inside the enclave, which Israel pulled out of in 2005, uprooting thousands of settlers.
Both Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and erstwhile coalition ally Itamar Ben Gvir of the ultra-right Otzma Yehudit party came out strongly in favor of Trump’s proposal.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a minister in the decision-wielding security cabinet told the Times of Israel that Trump’s statements had likely been partially designed to help Netanyahu hang on to support from far-right allies who have destabilized his coalition in protest against the hostage release and ceasefire deal agreed to by his government this month.

In the US, though, some of Trump’s domestic allies have scratched their heads at his suggestion.
“I really don’t know,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, when asked on CNN’s “State of the Union” about what Trump meant by the ”clean out” remark. Graham, who is close to Trump, said the suggestion was not feasible.
“The idea that all the Palestinians are going to leave and go somewhere else, I don’t see that to be overly practical,” said Graham. The South Carolina Republican said Trump should keep talking to Mideast leaders, including Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and officials in the United Arab Emirates.
“I don’t know what he’s talking about. But go talk to MBS, go talk to UAE, go talk to Egypt,” Graham said. “What is their plan for the Palestinians? Do they want them all to leave?”
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.