Arab Leaders Back Gaza Building Plan to Counter Trump

Leaders of Arab countries endorsed Egypt’s Gaza reconstruction plan, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi announced, in a move to counter the controversial ideas of US President Donald Trump, though a number of crucial details remain to be ironed out.

The proposition was endorsed at an extraordinary Arab League summit held on Tuesday, with Jordan’s King Abdullah, Qatar’s Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres among those present in an ornate domed hall at the new administrative capital on the outskirts of Cairo.

“This plan preserves the Palestinian people’s right to rebuild their homeland and ensures it remains on its land,” El-Sisi said in opening remarks, adding that Cairo would host a Gaza reconstruction conference next month. He urged fellow leaders to contribute to a special fund that will be created for Gaza, and said parallel political and security tracks would be launched to support the rebuilding plan.

Hamas, the Iran-backed militant group that rules Gaza, has said it welcomes the Arab-endorsed reconstruction plan. Arab leaders have rejected Trump’s proposal to relocate all the residents of war-ravaged Gaza to make way for the US to build what he’s called the “Riviera of the Middle East.”

The closing statement of the Arab summit condemned Israel’s decision this month to suspend humanitarian aid to Gaza and warned against the displacement of Palestinians and the occupation of more Palestinian territories, a move described as a “clear threat to the foundations of peace in the Middle East.” 

It also stressed the importance of implementing the phased Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement, including the withdrawal of Israel from the Gaza Strip and the Philadelphi corridor near the border with Egypt. 

For a transitional period, the statement welcomed a suggestion to form a committee under the Palestinian government to administer Gaza, and a proposal from Egypt and Jordan to train Palestinian police in the coastal enclave. It also calls on the UN Security Council to deploy peacekeeping forces in the strip and the West Bank.

But while the representatives, including from Saudi Arabia, are seeking to project a unified front against Trump’s proposal to displace Palestinians, the initiative faces a number of major hurdles, according to several people briefed on the approximately 150-page document. 

Disagreements exist over the issue of Palestinian governance of Gaza, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing sensitive material. Security of the territory is another outstanding matter, they said, as well as the future of Hamas, which is designated a terrorist group by the US and a number of other nations. 

Egypt’s El-Sisi said the effort to agree to a postwar Gaza plan should be a prelude to the creation of a Palestinian state and comprehensive peace between Israel and all Arab countries — and that this was possible with Trump in the White House. The conflict has left the territory’s residents with a choice between “being annihilated or displaced,” he added.

“I am certain President Trump can do it given our sincere desire in ending tensions and enmities in our region,” said El-Sisi, who rejected Trump’s offer that Egypt host many of the two million Palestinians who would be driven out of Gaza.

A 90-page version of the Arab plan seen by Bloomberg News — dated March 2025 and titled “Gaza, Palestine: Early Recovery and Gaza Reconstruction and Development” — envisions multiple phases lasting between six months to five years at a total cost of $53.2 billion.

Initially, 1.5 million Palestinians would be housed in temporary units spread out over seven sites across the war-ravaged territory as the monumental task of removing nearly 50 million tons of rubble gets underway, according to the document.

The day-to-day affairs of Gaza would be run by “an independent committee consisting of technocrats and non-partisan” Palestinian figures “under the umbrella of the Palestinian government,” paving the way for the full return of the Palestinian Authority to Gaza, according to the plan. El-Sisi confirmed this in his speech.

Egypt and Jordan would vet and train people to police Gaza with the possibility of deploying “an international defense/peacekeeping force with clear references” mandated by the UN Security council, added the draft, without providing details. 

One Arab official involved in drafting the plan said Hamas’s name was intentionally left out so as not to antagonize the group and secure its cooperation in implementation.

Overshadowing the summit is the risk that fighting resumes between Israel and Hamas after a six-week Gaza ceasefire expired on Sunday, making any reconstruction plan moot for the time being. 

Israel, with apparent US backing, wants to extend the initial phase of the truce agreement brokered in January by Egypt, Qatar and the US. Hamas insists the parties must move on to Phase 2 negotiations that would lay out an end to the war.

Israel has suspended humanitarian aid to Gaza as a result of the impasse, triggering rebukes from Arab mediators as well as Saudi Arabia, which has been rallying countries in the region around the alternative to Trump’s redevelopment proposals for Gaza. 

The Israel-Hamas war has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians since it began in October 2023, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health authorities. Much of the territory lies in ruin with reconstruction costs estimated at $50 billion. Israel launched it’s Gaza campaign after Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and abducting 250. 

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said Sunday the “Egyptian-Arab-Islamic” Gaza reconstruction plan would move on to a ministerial-level meeting in Saudi Arabia to iron out the details. That would include representatives of majority Muslim countries like Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Turkey and others. 

But it will be a challenge to persuade many countries, particularly Western ones, to back the plan when it doesn’t explicitly address how Hamas can be removed and disarmed. It’s a non-starter for Israel and most likely the US and the European Union.

“On Hamas we are clear, Hamas is not an interlocutor for us,” the EU’s Commissioner for the Mediterranean, Dubravka Šuica, said.

Saudi Arabia supports removing Hamas’s hardline military and political leadership from Gaza but says it’s necessary to deal with what it has described as moderate elements of the group, according to two people with knowledge of the situation. The United Arab Emirates has adopted a more uncompromising stance, they said, and wants a complete overhaul of the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority too before it commits any funds to reconstruction.

Egyptian, Saudi and UAE officials didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. 

Another potential obstacle to the plan is the repeated statements by Gulf states that they won’t fund reconstruction in Gaza without a commitment and path to a Palestinian state, something Israel has rejected. It’s unclear where Trump stands on this issue. 

With assistance from Abdel Latif Wahba and Thomas Hall.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.