Egyptian President Sisi Affirms Gaza's Redevelopment Should Not Evict Palestinians

JAKARTA - Egypt's president on Wednesday called on the international community to adopt plans to rebuild war-torn Gaza without displacing Palestinians, after US President Donald Trump's proposal angered Arabs with his own vision for the enclave.

"We emphasize the importance of the international community adopting plans to rebuild Gaza's path without displacing Palestinians, I repeat, without displacing Palestinians from their lands," Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi told a news conference with the Spanish Prime Minister in Madrid.

Earlier, President Trump had proposed a plan to rebuild the small enclave into an international beach resort after re-imposing Palestinians.

He also asked Jordan and Egypt to accept Palestinians who were permanently relocated from Gaza.

Egypt and Jordan, along with other Arab countries, rejected the plan, saying they would seek an alternative to match President Trump's proposal.

Sisi president added that the United Nations Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA), which provides assistance, health services, and education to millions of people in Palestinian territories and neighboring Arab countries such as Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan, is urgently needed by Palestinians.

UNRWA said its operations in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank would be disrupted after an Israeli law barred it from operating in Israeli territory, including East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in an unrecognized move internationally - and contact with Israeli authorities starting January 30.

Leaders of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, United Arab Emirates and Qatar are expected to discuss plans for Gaza in Riyadh this month before being proposed at the summit of the Arab League in Cairo in March.

As previously reported, Egypt is developing plans to rebuild the Gaza Strip without forcing Palestinians to move, in response to US President Donald Trump's proposal to permanently move the Palestinian enclave residents, by then mastering them to be rebuilt.

An Egyptian government-owned newspaper, Al-Ahram, said the proposal calls for the establishment of a "safe area" in Gaza, where Palestinians can stay temporarily when Egyptian and international construction companies move and rehabilitate the region's infrastructure.

Egyptian officials have discussed the plan with European diplomats as well as with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, according to two Egyptian officials and Arab and Western diplomats, quoted by the Associated Press.

They also discussed ways to fund reconstruction, including international conferences on Gaza reconstruction, said one Egyptian official and an Arab diplomat. Officials and diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because the proposal was still being negotiated.