CrossFireArabia
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has strongly rejected US President Donald Trump’s statements about the displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to other countries like Egypt and Jordan.
CrossFireArabia
“The US aid to Jordan is not free, but linked to America benefiting from its military bases on the land of the Kingdom,” Jordan’s ex-Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Mamdouh Al-Abadi responded to the statement made by United States President Donald Trump’s about the possibility of transferring Gaza residents to Jordan according to the assawsana Arabic website.
“If the US wanted to pay only the rent for the land, it would have needed to pay a much larger amount than the amount of aid provided to Jordan,” he added in a press statement.
“The United States of America wants to use aid to pressure governments and countries to accept its dictates.” He stressed Jordan’s position, which King Abdullah II has repeatedly announced, is clear and explicit in rejecting any attempts to displace the Palestinian people.
Al-Abadi stressed the US president will not continue to pressure Jordan but back down from his demands and statements, as happened in the decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization. He expected that the decision to stop aid will not last for more than three months.
He stressed that Trump’s statements will not change the reality on the ground at all for the people of Gaza remain steadfast on their land and the Palestinian people will not submit to any dictates or pressures to displace, and the interviews on television screens with the people of Gaza are the greatest response to the occupation and to what Trump said.
Al Abadi stressed the scenes of people returning to their towns in north Gaza, Monday, are the greatest response to the Trump utterings and that of the occupation government regarding the displacement of the Palestinian people. He described the scenes of people returning as a historic event that expresses the legendary steadfastness of such great people and the victory over the enemy.
He added the message of the Gazan is reaching the whole world as clinging to their land and no Israeli army, American, or any other force in the world can expel them, as their slogan has become either ‘death or land,’ and do not accept any alternative to their homeland, neither to Jordan nor Egypt.
Dr Khairi Janbek
By Dr Khairi Janbek
If you remember in the films, when the big mafiosi harms a friend or an ally, says, usually I had nothing against him, I even liked him, but this is pure business.
One is using this adage, because it simply reminds me of what president Trump said about the Jordanian monarch and the Egyptian president. He expressed his affection towards both, and said he got on well with them and liked them, but wants them to take refugees from Gaza and settle them in their own territories.
Now, doesn’t Mr Trump know that this move presents an existential threat to all? Or is he indifferent to their concerns, the fact being that, it’s nothing personal, just a businesslike solution to the Gazan Palestinians, whom in fact do not wish to leave their land as things stand now.
Unfortunately, this proposal stems from a very long history of the notion that, Israel is a very small country, and the Arab world is vast, and since the Palestinians are Arabs then they can be absorbed in other Arab countries!
Of course, this notion does not take into consideration that the Palestinians do not wish to leave their lands and seek justice in their own homeland, but then again there is an Arab contribution to this dimension which emerged in the so-called post-Arab-Israeli peace process, albeit in all probability unintentionally.
The fundamental idea of land for peace, which implicitly and explicitly meant land and state for the Palestinian people; which is incidentally a political notion, is that the Palestinian problem becomes a humanitarian issue that of refugees demanding the right of return.
In essence a people without land, or unspecified area of land doesn’t not constitute a nation. One is not going to bore everyone with justice and injustice, rather wishes to say why is it assumed by Mr Trump that the Palestinians should not have a say in their independent destiny? Why doesn’t he address them directly, after all the US is one of the guarantors of the Oslo accords, which incidentally gave legitimacy to the PNA.
Having said all that, where do we go from here, and for whom is Gaza supposed to be built for? If it is supposed to be built for the Gazans would that mean the Gazan status in Jordan and Egypt is a temporary proposal, in other words until Gaza is rebuilt? And who will rebuild Gaza?
These are very important details which cannot be swept aside without discussions involving the Egyptians, Jordanians and the PNA. But can Mr Trump’s idea really be worth considering and entertaining in terms of practicalities or is it on top-of-the-head remark?
The writer is a Jordanian columnist based in Paris
CrossFireArabia
By Samih Maaitah
As Jordan has only just recovered from the aggression on Gaza and has seen some relief along its northern borders, the issue of displacement has resurfaced once again. This time, it arises either from Gaza, exploiting the humanitarian and political catastrophe it faces, or from the occupied West Bank, where Netanyahu’s most right-wing government continues to escalate security and military tensions.
From the beginning of the aggression on Gaza, Jordan understood that the goal was to displace its people. Alongside its Egyptian brothers and other Arab and international parties, Jordan worked to confront this scheme. Jordan is fully aware that displacement is not just about relocating Gaza’s residents to another country; it is about dismantling the Palestinian cause and undermining its major pillars. Amman is cognizant that Israel seeks a Palestine without Palestinians and, through displacement, it seeks to destroy the prospects for a Palestinian state and the right of return.
Jordan, which has already received millions of Palestinians and millions of others due to the region’s endless crises and wars, has paid a heavy price in terms of its limited resources and political stability. Each wave of migration—most recently from Syria—has come at a significant cost. Jordan is aware that accepting any number of people from Gaza or elsewhere is no longer acceptable or tolerable, especially given the political implications for Jordan’s demographic composition, its national identity, and the Palestinian national identity.
Logic dictates that after all these wars and acts of aggression, the world should seek to resolve the Palestinian issue by granting Palestinians their rights on their national soil. It should not seek solutions to address Israel’s so-called security concerns by emptying Palestinian land of its people and displacing them to other countries.
Jordanians will not accept any solution at the expense of their national identity, homeland, and state. Those who truly seek peace must understand that the path to peace lies in granting Palestinians their rights on their land, not through displacement or the illusion of peace based on a scheme that can only be described as a liquidation of the Palestinian cause.
The writer is a columnist in the Jordan Times
CrossFireArabia
US President Donald Trump, Saturday, proposed relocating Palestinians from Gaza to neighboring countries like Egypt and Jordan. This is an unusual proposal that was opposed by the former administration of Joe Biden.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One towards Miami, the president said he raised the matter during a telephone call with King Abdullah II of Jordan, and he might talk with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday.
“I said to him (Jordan’s king) that I’d love you to take on more because I’m looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now and it’s a mess, it’s a real mess,” said Trump. “I’d like him (Jordan’s king) to take people”.
“I’d like Egypt to take people. I’m talking to Gen. Al Sisi tomorrow sometime I believe. I’d like Egypt to take people. And I’d like Jordan to take people,” Trump continued.
“You’re talking about a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing. You know over the centuries it’s had many, many conflicts. And I don’t know, something has to happen,” he added.
Describing Gaza as “a demolition site,” the US president said: “Almost everything is demolished and people are dying there. So l’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing at a different location where they can maybe live in peace for a change.”
He added that the move “could be temporary or could be long-term.”
The Biden administration opposed relocating Gaza residents outside the enclave, advocating a return of Gazans to their homes in the aftermath of a potential peace and a two-state solution.
Israel’s genocidal war has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and injured over 111,000 since Oct. 7, 2023.
Since Jan. 19, a ceasefire is in place to bring respite to civilians in the Palestinian enclave, but Trump said last week he is not confident that the truce will hold.
“It’s not our war. It’s their war. I think they are very weakened on the other side,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “I looked at a picture of Gaza. Gaza is like a massive demolition site. That place is. … It’s really got to be rebuilt in a different way,” he said.
“Gaza is interesting. It’s a phenomenal location on the sea, best weather, you know, everything’s good. It’s like some beautiful things could be done with it, but it’s very interesting, but some fantastic things could be done with Gaza,” Trump added according to Anadolu.
CrossFireArabia
The Ministry of Education in the Gaza Strip announced, Wednesday, the genocide committed by Israel over the course of more than 15 months resulted in the killing and disappearance of more than 15,000 Palestinian school-age children, and the targeting of 95 percent of school and educational buildings.
The ministry said in a statement: “Initial statistics indicate the martyrdom and disappearance of more than 15,000 school-age children, more than 800 education sector workers, and the injury of 50,000 male and female students.”
It added: “The horrific number of martyrs is equivalent to a mass extermination of human elements, students and workers in more than 30 schools, which reflects the extent of the crimes committed against children and educational staff.”
It explained that the genocide resulted in the killing of 1,200 male and female students enrolled in higher education institutions, more than 150 scientists, academics and workers in those institutions, and hundreds were injured and disabled.
The ministry confirmed that 95 percent of school and educational buildings were directly damaged, while 85 percent of them were completely or partially out of service due to their destruction.
It indicated that the Israeli army destroyed more than 140 administrative and academic facilities, including devices, equipment, laboratories, clinics and libraries.
The ministry estimated losses of the education sector at more than $3 billion.
It explained thousands of children were exposed to shocking experiences and unprecedented psychological pressures, which led to the emergence of psychological symptoms and trauma that require specialized interventions.
The ministry announced the completion of emergency response plans for the next stage, which includes completing the 2023/2024 school year and opening the 2024/2025 school year.
The ministry called on media outlets and human rights institutions to document the “Israeli crimes” against children and depriving them of their right to education, and to prosecute Tel Aviv before international bodies and courts.
It also appealed to supporting bodies and partner institutions to provide urgent and necessary support to relieve and rehabilitate the educational sector.
With American support, Israel committed genocide in the Gaza Strip between October 7, 2023 and January 19, 2025, leaving more than 158,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 14,000 missing.
Last Sunday, a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel came into effect, and its first phase will last for 42 days, during which negotiations will begin to start a second and then a third phase, mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States.
Israel has turned Gaza into the largest prison in the world, as it has besieged it for the last 18 years, and the genocide has forced about two million of its citizens, numbering about 2.3 million Palestinians, to flee in tragic conditions with a deliberate severe shortage of food, water and medicine.
CrossFireArabia
Irish President Michael Higgins stated that the Israeli occupation has violated many provisions of international law and breached the sovereignty of three countries: Lebanon, Syria, emphasizing that Benjamin Netanyahu seeks to establish settlements in Egypt.
Higgins condemned Israel’s labeling of Dublin as “antisemitic” after it announced its support for the Palestinian people, stressing that it is dangerous to label a state as such merely for disagreeing with the Israeli Prime Minister.
The comment came after Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar branded Higgins an antisemite amid the ministry’s decision to close the Israeli embassy in Dublin.
CrossFireArabia
The Israeli newspaper Maariv stated that the incoming US President Donald Trump is putting intense pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to bring the exchange deal of prisoners closer.
It added that the talks are proceeding not only on one or two channels. But negotiations on Gaza are moving along three channels:
Exchange deal
A military channel aimed at ending the war, a political channel aimed at maturing into an exchange deal, and a humanitarian channel for talks related to restoring the Gaza Strip and returning life to normal.
It stressed that the three channels are complementary to each other and are in the hands of the Egyptians.
It stressed that the main points of the agreement stipulate that the Israeli army must stop the war in stages and gradually withdraw from the Gaza Strip. The Rafah crossing will be opened to allow hundreds of aid trucks to enter every day, and Israel will release hundreds of security prisoners and receive prisoners. The implementation of the interim agreement will be supervised by America and other countries, as in Lebanon.
What plan?
According to the newspaper, in recent weeks, the Egyptians have been working away from the spotlight to bring Hamas and the Palestinian Authority closer together develop a plan to establish a new government entity in the Gaza Strip once a ceasefire is declared.
The proposal talks about a body to manage the civilian affairs of the Gaza Strip and will be staffed by 10 to 15 professionals who are not affiliated with any movement, and with an already official name: “The Social Committee to Support the Residents of Gaza”.
Its no coincidence the Egyptians have given it this title, nor the “unity government”, although it will operate under the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah. The Egyptians chose this name to be accepted by the Israeli government.
The newspaper stressed the agreement document the Egyptians extracted from Hamas and the Palestinian Authority is an achievement in itself and the Israeli government will have to decide soon whether handing over the Gaza Strip to this committee is acceptable to it or not according to Al Rai Al Youm.
Dr Khairi Janbek
Dr Khairi Janbek
PARIS – When talking about the Israeli prime minister Netanyahu, we must not miss the point that in effect he is a politician, thus, he is both an ideologue and a pragmatist. He is an ideologue when he feels he can go all the way with brinkmanship and get away with it, and he is a pragmatist, when realizes that he should stop and talk. However, by and large that usually depends on the position of the USA primarily, and on the regional situation in the second degree.
He was a pragmatist, when he originally gave his implicit support to Hamas as a guardian of peace in Gaza, and the guarantor of border security with Israel, and he was an ideologue when he demanded that the PNA accepts that Israel is a Jewish state, and accept moreover, that any form of a Palestinian state ought to be demilitarized and just a guardian of the border with Israel.
He was an ideologue when avenging the 7 October events and a pragmatist in letting the hostage crisis drag on. He chose to head a government in which he can present himself as the only one whom the world can talk to when compared to his extremist colleagues, through his masque of pragmatism, rather than go into a government with partners whom will make him look as the only ideologue among pragmatists.
Again, this Netanyahu dualism, be that the ideologue who has the freedom to do as he sees fit, or the pragmatist who gets to know his boundaries one cannot say is clear, at least for the moment. For all intents and purposes, the red apple of the so-called Abrahamic Accord, Saudi Arabia, remains illusive, as the Saudis have indicted in no uncertain terms, that any prospects of normalization are conditional on at least, reviving the two-state solution. But at the same time, Netanyahu still has working relationships with the UAE and Bahrain in the Gulf as well as Qatar.
As for the older cold peace partners, Jordan and Egypt, Netanyahu is content that at least the situation is stable as it could be.
Now, will Netanyahu be able to pull a rabbit out of the hat when it comes to Trump, or does he really feel that he can take Trump for granted? The current thought in the Middle East fluctuates between those two guesses. But in reality with a paradigm shift, perhaps we can see things clearer. For a start, we are currently living in the age of separation of economics and business from the world of politics, also the separation of interests from principled positions. This age is not created by either Netanyahu or Trump but it certainly suits their relationship fine.
One thing for certain, Netanyahu can rely on Trump’s support as an intransigent ideologue, for Israel is undoubtedly the advanced military post of the USA, but also as a pragmatist, he has to understand to what extent he can be a tool of US foreign interests especially that Trump is very much fond of the concept of proxies and does not like infringements on his business deals.
Dr Khairi Janbek is a Jordanian historian based in Paris and the above opinion is written exclusively for crossfirearabia.com.
CrossFireArabia
A call by Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to annex the occupied West Bank has drawn a wave of condemnations across the Arab world.
On Monday, Smotrich said he instructed Israel’s Settlement Division and Civil Administration to initiate the groundwork for infrastructure to “apply sovereignty” in the West Bank.
The Qatari Foreign Ministry called the Israeli minister’s call a “blatant violation of international law.”
A ministry statement denounced the call as a “dangerous escalation that would hinder the chances of peace in the region, especially with the ongoing brutal war on the Gaza Strip and its horrific repercussions.”
It called on the international community “to stand firmly against the occupation’s settlement, colonial and racist policies, and its repeated attacks on the Palestinian rights, especially its ongoing crimes in the West Bank.”
“The repeated Israeli statements that violate international laws and resolutions clearly reveal that the occupation is the obstacle to any efforts for peace and stability” in the region, the ministry said.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry decried Smotrich’s call as a “flagrant violation of international law and international humanitarian law.”
“The irresponsible and extremist remarks by a member of the Israeli government clearly reflect Israel’s rejection of adopting the peace option in the region,” the ministry said in a statement.
Jordan termed the Israeli minister’s call “racist” and “extremist”
It called Smotrich’s statements a “blatant violation of international law and the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state with sovereignty along the June 4, 1967 borders and its capital in occupied Jerusalem.”
This June, Smotrich confirmed reports from The New York Times that he had a “secret plan” to annex the West Bank and thwart any efforts to incorporate it into a future Palestinian state.
In July this year, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a landmark opinion that declared Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land “illegal” and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
According to the Israeli public broadcaster KAN on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to reintroduce the annexation of the West Bank to the agenda of his government when US President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
In 2020, Netanyahu planned to “annex” the illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley, based on the so-called Middle East peace plan announced by Trump in January of the same year.
Territories Netanyahu planned to annex at that time constitute about 30% of the West Bank. His plan, however, wasn’t launched under international pressure and lack of US approval.
International law views both the West Bank and East Jerusalem as “occupied territories” and considers all Jewish settlement-building activity there as illegal according to Anadolu.
