Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty has visited his American counterpart Marco Rubio in Washington DC, after the US President has clearly insisted that Egypt will receive Palestinians who are driven out of Gaza.
It is not current, according to an Egyptian account of what was said at the foreign ministers' meeting. Badr Abdelatty is said to have emphasized to Rubio that war-torn Gaza must now be rebuilt - with its Palestinian inhabitants in place, "in light of their connection to their land".
The Egyptian is further reported to have said that this has full support in the "Arab and Islamic world, as well as within the international community".
Would not be allowed to return
The plan that Trump has shaken the negotiating tables with involves the Palestinian population being completely driven out of the Palestinian Gaza Strip, after which it would be rebuilt under American administration. As he has described it, the approximately two million people would be able to find better places to live in neighboring countries Egypt and Jordan.
In an interview with Fox News, Trump talks about housing that the USA would allow to be built in other countries, which in practice would likely become further permanent refugee camps for Palestinians. The US President is asked if these Palestinians would have the right to return to Gaza after the announced reconstruction.
No, they would not have, since they will have much better housing.
Egypt and Jordan have said no to receiving driven-out Gazans, but the pressure is followed by meetings in the USA. After the Egyptian meeting, Jordan's King Abdullah II will come to the White House. Trump has emphasized that American aid funds can be withdrawn if countries do not cooperate.
Sees continued catastrophe
Donald Trump claims that Palestinians in Gaza are willing to move away voluntarily, which there is little to suggest. For many, his plan appears as the next step in al-Nakba, the "catastrophe", when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were driven from their homes in connection with the founding of the state of Israel.
Millions of Palestinians have lived as formal refugees in the region for many decades, many in Egypt and Jordan. And among them, many see it as a continued temporary solution since they hold on to the intention of one day returning to their previous home areas.
