Arab leaders are debating an Egyptian counterproposal to U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to rebuild the Gaza Strip at an extraordinary summit in Cairo on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Arab media is sounding a note of skepticism over how the plan might be implemented, given Hamas’ insistence that it will not give up its 17-year reign over Gaza.
Egypt’s plan — which comes as a counterproposal to Trump’s plan to resettle Palestinians outside Gaza while the territory is rebuilt — calls for residents of Gaza to remain inside the territory in seven locations in temporary housing while rubble is removed and demining takes place.
Egypt and many other Arab states oppose the portion of Trump’s plan that calls for Gaza Palestinians to be relocated outside the strip during rebuilding efforts.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi thanked Trump for his efforts to help rebuild Gaza.
He also said Egypt proposes that a group of technocrats run the territory during an interim period, while a new Palestinian police force is trained and efforts are made to secure funding to rebuild.
Egypt would host a donor’s conference next month, el-Sissi said.
Meanwhile, the situation in Gaza remains tense amid the possibility that conflict could erupt again after Israel accused Hamas, which the U.S. designates as a terrorist group, of using humanitarian aid as a “principal source of revenue [for itself].” Israel halted aid shipments on Saturday.
Said Sadek, who teaches political sociology at the Egypt-Japan University in Alexandria, told VOA that many Arabs oppose disarming Hamas and forcing the group to relinquish power to rebuild Gaza.
“Basically, this summit will discuss how to marginalize [or] sideline Hamas and having an international Muslim peace force and training Palestinian policemen, so that the process of reconstruction [takes] place,” Sadek said. “The trouble, of course, is how can you force Hamas to leave Gaza [and] how can you deprive them of their weapons?”
Saudi-owned al Arabiya TV reported that Arab leaders are expected to approve a proposal to ask the United Nations to help set up a joint Arab-international peace-keeping force to run Gaza during an interim period while a new Palestinian police force is trained.
Egypt has refused to assume control over the territory it ruled from 1948 to 1967, when it was seized by Israel during the Seven Day War.
Arab League spokesperson Jamal Rushdy tried to minimize disagreements over Egypt’s Gaza plan, saying it is just the beginning on a long road to reconstruct the territory and secure the funds to do so.
Hamas has ruled out transferring power and said it will keep its arms, which its leaders call a line they will not cross. Israel, in return, has threatened to resume hostilities, claiming that Hamas has recruited more fighters and restored its preconflict manpower to 30,000 men.
Egyptian mediators have negotiated with Hamas — without a great deal of success — since it first grabbed control of Gaza in 2007, expelling the mainstream Fatah group and the Palestinian police force that was set up after Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.
