Gaza City [Gaza], February 2: Foreign ministers of five Arab countries have issued a joint statement rejecting the forced displacement of Palestinians from their land.
The statement, released on Saturday, presented a unified stance against US President Donald Trump's call for Egypt and Jordan to take in Palestinians from Gaza.
Foreign ministers and officials from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, the Palestinian Authority and the Arab League said Trump's proposed move would threaten stability in the region, spread conflict and undermine prospects for peace.
"We affirm our rejection of [any attempts] to compromise Palestinians' unalienable rights, whether through settlement activities, or evictions or annex of land or through vacating the land from its owners . in any form or under any circumstances or justifications," the joint statement read.
The meeting came after Trump said last week that Egypt and Jordan should take in Palestinians from Gaza, which he called a "demolition site" following 15 months of Israeli bombardment that rendered most of its 2.3 million people homeless.
Egypt and Jordan - key US allies in the region - have repeatedly rejected Trump's proposal to "clean out" Gaza. Jordan is home to several million Palestinians, while tens of thousands live in Egypt.
On Wednesday, Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi also rejected Trump's idea and said Egyptians would take to the streets to express their disapproval.
The foreign ministers on Saturday highlighted that they "look forward to working with the administration of US President Donald Trump to achieve a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East, in accordance with the two-state solution".
They also welcomed Egypt's plans to hold an international conference in the near future with the United Nations that would be focused on rebuilding Gaza and affirmed the UN's main aid agency for Palestinians, UNRWA's "pivotal, indispensable and irreplaceable role" in the enclave.
Source: Qatar Tribune