Cairo: The extraordinary Arab Summit in Cairo on Tuesday will highlight efforts to refute the displacement of Palestinians from their lands and attempts to eliminate their just cause. As the US Trump administration is suggesting a deal that would see the expulsion of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and possibly elsewhere, Egypt and Arab Leaders are offering a plan to rebuild the war-torn Gaza Strip.
According to Kuwait News Agency, the three-stage Egyptian plan, revealed by Al-Ahram newspaper, consists of zones to host displaced Palestinians within Gaza. It also calls for opening the way for Arab contractors to take over the rebuilding of Gaza with Palestinian involvement and assigns an administrative committee to run Gaza for six months in coordination with the Palestinian authority. These details were also present in the press conference between Egyptian Foreign Minister Bader Abdulatty and Palestinian counterpart Hamad Mustafa.
The Egyptian minister indicated that the plan was devised in coordination with the Palestinian authorities, the UN, the World Bank, the UNDP, and other international players. Speaking to KUNA, Egyptian journalist and Arab affairs expert Osama Ajaj emphasized the importance of confronting President Donald Trump’s plans for the Gaza Strip, highlighting that the Egyptian plan was based on grounded facts and was achievable.
Ajaj discussed the small-scale Arab summit held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on February 21, with participation from five GCC countries, Jordan, Egypt, noting that the Egyptian plan’s cornerstone was based on its outcomes. The timetable for the Egyptian plan ranges from three to five years, with a focus on finding suitable housing for Palestinians and repairing and rebuilding infrastructure destroyed by the Israeli occupation’s 15-month assault.
The estimated value of the plan and for early recovery is around USD 50 billion, as suggested by the UN and the World Bank. Ajaj emphasized that gathering the required sum of money is a regional and international obligation if a true solution is the end goal. He affirmed that the Egyptian stance on the Palestinian cause is unwavering, with resettling Palestinians in other countries being out of the question.
Regarding the urgent summit, Ajaj confirmed that it would result in important decisions, including insisting on the Palestinian authority playing a key role in Gaza’s transitional phase. It will also address the Israeli occupation’s ongoing aggression on some cities in the West Bank, which Ajaj considers an attempt to eliminate the Palestinian cause. Ajaj reiterated that the summit would insist on the two-state solution as the only way for peace in the Middle East.