President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates informed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday that his nation opposes any proposal to forcibly remove Gazans from their homeland, Reuters reported, citing the Emirati state news agency WAM.
Nahyan made these remarks following a proposal by US President Donald Trump suggesting that the United States take control of Gaza and relocate its population to Jordan and Egypt. The idea has faced strong opposition from Arab nations.
During a meeting in Abu Dhabi, Nahyan emphasized to Rubio the necessity of linking Gaza’s reconstruction efforts to "a comprehensive and lasting peace based on the two-state solution" as a resolution to the Israel-Palestinian Arab conflict.
The meeting comes one day before leaders from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the UAE, and Qatar are expected to meet in Riyadh and discuss an alternative to Trump’s plan, proposed by Egypt.
On Tuesday, the Egyptian state-run Al-Ahram newspaper provided some details on the Egyptian plan to reconstruct the Gaza Strip without relocating its residents to other countries.
The report said that the plan will temporarily relocate Gazans to “secure areas” in the strip while Egyptian and other foreign construction firms rebuild Gaza.
The Associated Press cited two Egyptian officials who noted that the plan envisions the creation of a "Palestinian administration," unaligned with Hamas or the Palestinian Authority, to run the Strip and oversee reconstruction efforts.
The new administration would include a police force mostly consisting of former Palestinian Authority policemen who remained in Gaza after Hamas took over the Strip in 2007, with reinforcement from Egyptian- and Western-trained forces.
Rubio stated last week that the United States is open to hearing new proposals from Arab nations regarding Gaza.
"Hopefully they're going to have a really good plan to present the president," Rubio said, referring to Arab nations.
"Right now the only plan -- they don't like it -- but the only plan is the Trump plan. So if they've got a better plan, now's the time to present it," he told conservative radio hosts Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.
"All these countries say how much they care about the Palestinians, but none of them want to take any Palestinians. None of them have a history of doing anything for Gaza," Rubio added.