Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi said Tuesday that Arab leaders meeting in Cairo have endorsed an Egyptian counterproposal to U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to rebuild Gaza.
The meeting, hosted by Egypt, included the emir of Qatar, the vice president of the United Arab Emirates and the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia.
Egypt's plan — which comes as a counterproposal to Trump's January plan to resettle Palestinians outside Gaza while the territory is rebuilt — calls for residents of Gaza to remain inside the territory in seven specific locations in temporary housing while rubble is removed, and demining takes place.
Egypt and many other Arab states oppose the portion of Trump's plan that calls for Palestinians in Gaza to be relocated outside the Strip during rebuilding efforts.
In comments during the meeting, Sissi thanked Trump for his efforts to help rebuild Gaza, adding that Egypt's suggested plan involved a temporary governing body to rule the territory.
He said that Egypt is proposing a group of technocrats to run the territory during an interim period, while a new Palestinian police force is trained and while efforts are made to secure funding from donors to rebuild what was destroyed. He added that Egypt would host a donor's conference next month.
Meanwhile, the situation in Gaza remains tense amid the possibility that conflict could erupt once again after Israel accused U.S.-designated terror group Hamas of using aid into the territory as a "principal source of revenue [for itself]," and halting aid shipments on Saturday.
Said Sadek, who teaches political sociology at the Egypt-Japan University in Alexandria, told VOA that many Arabs oppose disarming Hamas, and forcing the group to relinquish power to rebuild Gaza.
"Basically, this summit will discuss how to marginalize [or] sideline Hamas and having an international Muslim peace force and training Palestinian policemen, so that the process of reconstruction [takes] place. The trouble, of course, is that how can you force Hamas to leave Gaza [and] how can you deprive them of their weapons?" he said.
Saudi-owned al Arabiya TV reported that Arab leaders were expected to approve a proposal to ask the U.N. to help set up a joint Arab-international peace-keeping force to run Gaza during an interim period while a new Palestinian police force is trained, and a group of technocrats runs the territory. Egypt has refused to assume control over the territory it ruled from 1948 to 1967, when it was seized by Israel during the Seven Day War.
Arab League spokesman Jamal Rushdy tried to minimize disagreements over Egypt's Gaza plan, while addressing Arab media.
He said the plan to rebuild Gaza is just the beginning of a long road to reconstruct the territory and to secure the needed funds to do the rebuilding.
Hamas has ruled out transferring power and says it will keep its arms, which its leaders call a "red line," or a line that it will not cross. Israel, in return, has threatened to resume hostilities, and Israeli media claims that Hamas has recruited more fighters, restoring its pre-conflict manpower to 30,000 men.
Egyptian mediators have negotiated with Hamas — without a great deal of success — since it first grabbed control of Gaza in 2007, expelling the mainstream Fatah group and the Palestinian police force that was set up after Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.
