The Palestinians have strongly criticized the decision of the President of the United States Donald Trump to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and send it to Egypt and Jordan – a decision that has resulted. raised concerns about ethnic cleansing.
Trump on Saturday told reporters that it was time to “clean up” the besieged Gaza Strip, and urged the leaders of Jordan and Egypt to take the Palestinians from Gaza, temporarily or permanently.
The proposal was rejected by Palestinians on Sunday, with the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA) saying the proposal would violate “red lines”, while Gaza residents insisted they would remain on the coast.
“It is impossible for people to accept this,” Palestinian citizen Nafiz Halawa told Al Jazeera from Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip. “The weak can leave because of the pain they have endured, but the idea of leaving our country… is impossible.”
Elham al-Shabli also rejected this idea. “If we wanted to leave, we would have done it a long time ago. The civil war they are fighting will not achieve anything against the Palestinians and we will remain despite what is happening,” he said.
The PA said in a statement that the plan “definitely violates the red lines we have consistently warned about”.
“We emphasize that the Palestinian people will never leave their land or their holy sites, and we will not allow a repetition of disasters (Nakba) of 1948 and 1967. Our people will be stable and will not leave their homes,” it said.
It urged Trump to establish a cease-fire agreement in Gaza, ensure the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces, establish the PA as the governing body in the camp, and advance efforts toward an independent Palestinian state.
Hamas, the Palestinian group that controls Gaza, said that the US administration should abandon such ideas that are in line with Israel's “plans” and against the rights of the Palestinian people, who have been protesting the “extremely deadly” and displacement ever since. Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), which has been fighting alongside Hamas in Gaza for more than 15 months, said Trump's comments were incitement to “war crimes”.
Jordan's Foreign Minister, Ayman Safadi, said that “refusal to immigration is permanent and irreversible” and that Amman hopes to work with the Trump administration in advancing efforts to recognize an independent Palestinian state.
Trump's comments also seemed to catch the attention of senior Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who said in an interview with the US CNN that he did not see the proposal “as very useful” and believed that Arab countries in the region would reject it.
Israel is preventing a return to northern Gaza
Trump's comments come just over a week after a peace deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza went into effect, with two rounds of hostage-taking. exchange he finished.
But thousands of Palestinians waited on the streets on Sunday to return to their homes in northern Gaza as Israel refused to open the crossing after accusing Hamas of violating a cease-fire agreement.
Israel said it would open the crossing after Israeli civilian Arbel Yehud, who is being held by the PIJ in Gaza, was released. It states that in the peace agreement, the civilians who are in prison were to be released in the presence of the military.
PIJ told Al Jazeera on Sunday that Yehud would be released before Saturday in exchange for 30 Palestinian prisoners.
The Deputy Secretary General of the PIJ, Mohammed al-Hindi, also said that his group is “waiting for a practical answer” from the mediators on how Palestinians will be allowed to return to their homes in northern Gaza.
Al Jazeera's Hani Mahmoud, reporting from the al-Rasheed crossing in Gaza, said there are “no tents” to shelter the displaced.
“There is no place for them here; there are no tents. “Many people are living here because they dropped their tents, as they thought that after the four Israeli slaves were freed, they could cross over to the north of the Strip, as agreed,” he said.
But it looks like he's going to sleep here again tonight.