No, Thanks

Thousands of Egyptians protested near the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip over the weekend against US President Donald Trump’s proposal to relocate Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt and Jordan, a plan that has received widespread condemnation across the Arab world, Africanews reported.

Demonstrators waved Egyptian and Palestinian flags and voiced support for Palestinian statehood, rejecting what they viewed as an attempt to force Palestinians from their land and what they labeled as “ethnic cleansing.”

The protests came a week after Trump called on regional leaders to accept displaced Palestinians following 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza that left much of the territory in ruins.

On Saturday, a number of Arab nations and entities, including Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the Palestinian Authority, and the Arab League, issued a joint statement rejecting the proposal, CBS News added.

The statement warned that such plans “threaten the region’s stability, risk expanding the conflict, and undermine prospect for peace and coexistence among its people.” Arab diplomats also called on the international community to support Gaza’s reconstruction to ensure Palestinians remain in their homeland.

Last week, the US president had told reporters that he urged Jordan’s King Abdullah and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to take in displaced Gazans because the Palestinian enclave is “a mess.”

Initially, el-Sissi firmly rejected the idea, calling it an “act of injustice,” with officials raising security concerns about a potential influx of Palestinians into the Sinai Peninsula. Egyptian officials also worry about the discontent among their own population if the country takes in Palestinian refugees.

Jordan, which already hosts more than two million Palestinian refugees, warned that any forced relocation would have severe economic and political consequences.

Trump’s proposal has sparked fears that Palestinians who leave Gaza will not be allowed to return, echoing historical concerns about permanent displacement. Amid a fragile ceasefire, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have begun returning to the north of Gaza, but the long-term fate of those displaced remains uncertain.

Despite the backlash, Trump and el-Sissi held a phone call Saturday, where they reportedly discussed consolidating the Gaza ceasefire and increasing humanitarian aid, Reuters noted.

The Egyptian president said the discussion was positive but did not mention whether the two leaders addressed Trump’s displacement proposal.

The weekend meeting came a few days after Trump responded to criticism by Egypt and Jordan that “we do a lot for them, and they are going to do it” – in reference to US aid to Egypt and Jordan.