US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that the United States is eager to hear new proposals from Arab countries on Gaza. There was widespread opposition from the Arab community after US President Donald Trump announced his plan to evacuate the entire population of Gaza.
Secretary of State Rubio has expressed confidence that he will discuss the views of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Israel during his talks with Egypt and Jordan in Washington. “Hopefully, they will have a really good plan to present to the president,” Rubio said of the Arab nations.
“The only plan for Gaza right now is Trump’s plan, but they (the Arab community) don’t like it. So, if they have a good plan, now is the time to present it,” he said in an interview with conservative hosts Clay Travis and Buck Sexton’s radio show. US President Trump, upon taking office, warned that Gaza’s neighbors, Egypt and Jordan, would face consequences if they did not accept the more than two million Palestinians in Gaza.
“All these countries want to show they care about the Palestinians, but none of them want to take in the Palestinians. None of them have a history of doing anything for Gaza,” Rubio said. Jordan has already sheltered more than two million Palestinian refugees.
Diplomats say Egypt is leading efforts to present an alternative to Trump within weeks. Egypt’s proposal includes training a new security force in Gaza and identifying local Palestinian leaders. Rubio said he believed Arab nations were “acting in good faith,” adding, “Israel and the United States are of the view that Hamas should have no future administrative role in the Palestinian territories.”
He said, “If the countries in the region cannot find this piece, Israel will have to do it, and then we will go back to where we were.” Rubio’s predecessor, Antony Blinken, had proposed a plan for international powers and the United Nations to play a temporary role in Gaza until the Palestinian Authority could take control of the territory.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who leads a hard-right government, has long sought to weaken the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority as part of its opposition to a Palestinian state.
