Arab Neighbors Egypt and Jordan Reject Gaza Refugees: 'That Is a Red Line'
The king of Jordan on Tuesday said Palestinian refugees from the Gaza Strip should not be pawned off on Jordan or Egypt.
Israel has indicated it plans to attack Gaza to eliminate the power base of Hamas, the terrorist group behind the Oct, 7 massacre of more than 1,400 people in Israel. As Gaza residents heed Israeli warnings to leave the northern part of Gaza, crowding thousands of people into an already crowded area in southern Gaza has spurred talk of Gaza refugees taking shelter in nearby Arab nations.
Jordan’s King Abdullah put his foot down on such talk Tuesday while in Germany for meetings with German officials.
“That is a red line because I think that is the plan by certain of the usual suspects to try and create de facto issues on the ground, ” King Abdullah said, according to Reuters.
“There will be no refugees in Jordan and no refugees in Egypt,” he said, according to the Times of Israel.
“This is a situation that has to be handled within Gaza and the West Bank, and you don’t have to carry this out on the shoulders of others,” he said, according to The Hill.
“The whole region is on the brink. This new cycle of violence is leading us towards the abyss,” Abdullah said.
The only way out from Gaza under current conditions is the border crossing with Egypt, which is pushing back on allowing Gaza residents to settle in the Sinai Peninsula that borders the Gaza Strip.
A report in the Financial Times, in which no identities were revealed, said that a “senior” Egyptian official told a European official, “You want us to take 1 million people? Well, I am going to send them to Europe. You care about human rights so much — well you take them.”
The Financial Times quoted the European official as saying Egypt is “really, really angry” over feeling pressure to take refugees.
The Financial Times called allowing refugees into Egypt “a nightmare scenario that would unleash disruptive pressures it wants to avoid.”
Michael Wahid Hanna, an analyst at the International Crisis Group, said security issues are among the concerns of Egyptian officials.
“Egypt fought an Isis insurgency in the northern Sinai and interlinkages with extremists in Gaza were a key issue then,” he said.
The Egyptian government does not want to open its border to terrorists who would fight Israel from Egypt’s territory, he indicated.
He also said that there is a massive uncertainty factor in allowing refugees to settle in Egypt.
“How many and for how long? And even if it is for temporary humanitarian protection, after the Israeli offensive maybe there will be nothing for the Palestinians to go back to. Or maybe Israel won’t let them return,” he said.
In an Op-Ed for the Wall Street Journal, Mark Dubowitz and Jonathan Schanzer said nations, such as Iran, that support Hamas should take in Gaza’s refugees.
“Cairo is deeply skeptical of Hamas, given the terrorist organization’s roots in the Muslim Brotherhood, which Egypt’s government views as a threat,” they wrote.
“Iran, Hamas’s chief financier and arms supplier, should absorb the majority of Gazans looking to flee,” the wrote, adding, “The regime has cynically boosted Palestinian jihadists for decades, which has brought misery and destruction not only in Gaza but also in the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq—anywhere terror proxies operate. “
Although many are fleeing Gaza, Hamas terrorists are still in Gaza sending rockets toward Israeli cities, according to Fox News.
“Their ability to target major cities remains; 6,500 rockets have been fired into Israel since last Saturday,” Fox News reporter Trey Yingst said, referring to the Oct. 7 start of the Hamas campaign against Israel.
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