EGYPT/JORDAN: Jordan and Egypt have expressed concerns over the potential expulsion of Palestinians and the potential flow of refugees across their borders. President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s National Security Council meeting rejected eviction or attempts to liquidate the Palestinian question at the expense of neighbouring nations.
As the war continues, Egypt will not be lenient in protecting its security, according to an official statement. The conflict has resulted in thousands of deaths on both sides, with most non-combatants.
The meeting took place as Jordan’s King Abdullah was travelling through Europe to alert the leaders of Britain, Italy, Germany, and France about the impact of war on Jordan
King Abdullah told British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak about the potential catastrophe of expelling Palestinians. He rejected transferring the crisis to neighbouring countries and compounding the refugee issue. Jordan and Egypt were the first Arab countries to sign a peace treaty with Israel, as they are the top three recipients of American aid and are all US allies.
Egypt and Jordan, both sharing borders with Israeli-occupied territories in the West Bank and Gaza, are closely coordinating to contain the potential fallout from the ongoing Gaza conflict and the potential worsening of violence in the West Bank.
Egypt has condemned Israeli pressure on the Palestinians for decades, fearing it would push the 2.3 million people in Gaza into the Sinai Peninsula.
Jordanian authorities are concerned about the possibility of an “alternative homeland” where Palestinians from the West Bank are deported, potentially leading to a new influx of refugees and increasing the proportion of Palestinians in Jordan.
This could strain the balance between the tribes that made Jordan a British protectorate in 1921 and later Palestinian immigrants. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken opposes proposals to relocate Palestinians outside Gaza.
He declared that the plan was a “non-starter, so we do not support it” after meeting El Sisi in Cairo.
Jordan reached a peace agreement with Israel 15 years after Egypt did in 1979. Egypt’s House Speaker, Hanafy El Gibaly, asked Palestinians to stay in Gaza after the Grand Imam of Al Azhar appealed from Cairo.
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