Arab foreign ministers reject call for transfer of Palestinians

Arab foreign ministers rejected the transfer of Palestinians from their land under any circumstances, presenting a unified stance against US President Donald Trump's call for Egypt and Jordan to take in residents of the Gaza Strip.

In a joint statement following a meeting in Cairo, the foreign ministers and officials from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, the Palestinian Authority and the Arab League said such a move would threaten stability in the region, spread conflict and undermine prospects for peace.

"We affirm our rejection of [any attempts] to compromise Palestinians' unalienable rights, whether through settlement activities, or evictions or annex of land or through vacating the land from its owners...in any form or under any circumstances or justifications," the joint statement read.

They were looking forward to working with Trump's administration to achieve a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East based on a two-state solution, they added.

The meeting comes after Trump said last week that Egypt and Jordan should take in Palestinians from Gaza, which he called a "demolition site" following 15 months of Israeli bombardment that rendered most of its 2.3 million people homeless. Critics have called his suggestion tantamount to ethnic cleansing.

On Wednesday Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi rejected the idea that Egypt would facilitate the displacement of Gazans and said Egyptians would take to the streets to express their disapproval.

However, on Thursday, Trump reiterated the idea, saying: "We do a lot for them, and they are going to do it," in apparent reference to abundant US aid, including military assistance, to both Egypt and Jordan.

Any suggestion that Palestinians leave Gaza, territory they want to form part of an independent state, has been anathema to the Palestinian leadership for generations and repeatedly rejected by neighbouring Arab states since the Gaza war began in October 2023.

Jordan is already home to several million Palestinians, while tens of thousands live in Egypt. The foreign ministries of Egypt and Jordan have both rejected Trump's suggestion in recent days.

The Arab ministers also welcomed Egypt's plans to hold an international conference with the United Nations that would be focused on rebuilding Gaza, which has been mostly flattened during the 15 months war between Israel and Hamas. No date has been set yet for the conference.