The king of Jordan Abdullah II has become the first Arab leader to meet Donald Trump in the White House since the second term of the President of the United States on January 20.
Assied on Tuesday with Trump, however, put Abdullah in a delicate situation.
While Jordan and the United States have historically had close ties, Trump has made Abdullah and his government on several occasions to accept the displaced Palestinians from Gaza torn by the war, where Israel has led a military assault since October 2023 .
The United States, on the other hand, said that it “takes over” and “owns” a Gaza emptied of its residents, a proposal that criticisms think that ethnic cleaning would be an ethnic cleaning.
“This is not a complex thing to do,” Trump said on Tuesday. “The United States controls this land – this fairly large terrain – you will have stability in the Middle East for the first time.”
Jordan and its Egypt ally refused to accept the Palestinians moved by force.
Abdullah’s meeting came as a recent ceasefire in the risks of Gaza. Israel threatened – on the back of Trump’s remarks himself – to restart the bombing on Saturday if the Palestinian group Hamas does not publish all the captives on Saturday.
But Abdullah avoided directly against Trump at their meeting, rather alluding to an alternative plan which will soon be revealed by Egypt.
Here are some of the main points to remember from the meeting between Abdullah and Trump.
Trump doubles on the control plan of Gaza (again)
Inside the oval office, journalists asked Trump about his comments that the United States would take control of Gaza and that the Palestinians who live there would be moved elsewhere, without right to return.
He was direct in his answers, apparently deaf to the incredulous nature of some of the questions. Yes, the United States would take control of Gaza and rebuild it. Yes, the Palestinians who have lived there for generations – many of them already refugees from what is now Israel – would move to “plots of earth” in Jordan and Egypt.
“We will take it. We will hold it. We will cherish him. We are going to end up ensuring that many jobs will be created for people in the Middle East, “said Trump, without giving details.
Trump has also doubled on his threats that the ceasefire with Israel would end up if the leaders of Hamas do not disclose the remaining Israeli captives held in the enclave in the next four days.
“I don’t think they are going to make the deadline, personally,” said Trump. “They want to play a hard to cook. We will see how difficult they are.
He added that he would not accept a slower chronology: “They have them either on Saturday at 12 o’clock or all bets are disabled.”
Trump had announced this deadline one day earlier, in apparently shifted comments with journalists.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has since echoked Trump’s threats, warning that his soldiers – who have already killed more than 61,700 Palestinians since 2023 – would recommend his bombing campaign in Gaza if the Israeli captives were not released.
A problem that Trump seemed to retreat, at least in front of Abdullah and the cameras, was his threat that the aid could be retained in Jordan and Egypt if they do not accept his Gaza travel plan.
“I don’t have to threaten this,” said Trump. “I think we are above that.”
Abdullah diplomatic, but says that the Arab states have a plan for Gaza
By meeting Trump, the Jordanian monarch faced a difficult task: how would he repeat his country’s opposition to the Trump Gaza plan without offending a president not known for his tolerance for dissent?
In the end, Abdullah chose to avoid speaking too much in front of the media, and when he did, his language was careful, precise and designed to avoid the offensive.
When asked if Jordan would welcome the displaced Palestinians from Gaza, the Jordanian chief said he would do what was “best” for his country.
In publications on social networks after the meeting, he said that Jordan was “firm” in its “position against the displacement of the Palestinians in Gaza and in the West Bank”.
He added that the Arab states would offer their own plan for Gaza, which would be presented after its finalization. He also flattered Trump, saying: “I finally see someone who can make us cross the finish line to bring stability, peace and prosperity to all of us in the region.”
After the meeting, Jordan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi also said that there was an Arab plan to rebuild Gaza without moving his people.
Some observers believe that Trump’s Gaza Plan is a negotiation tactic and that Arab states will be able to offer a counter-offer.
Trump focuses on real estate, not Palestinian attachment to the land
The American president, of course, has his roots in real estate affairs.
Much of Trump’s money comes from the real estate empire he inherited from his father, and he has since expelled his last name to obtain licenses of eponymous products, as well as to organize a reality TV show .
However, some of these real estate inclinations entered the language he used during the description of his Gaza plan on Tuesday.
“I had a great career in real estate,” said Trump nostalgically. “When you have done what I did, you can do more people when you are president.”
Trump described Gaza as potentially becoming a “diamond” in the Middle East. However, when asked on Tuesday if he planned to buy Gaza as part of his control plan, Trump was disdainful.
“We are not going to buy. There is nothing to buy, ”said Trump. “We will have Gaza. No reason to buy. It’s Gaza. It is an area torn by war.
Critics say that his vision of Gaza – refurbished with hotels, offices and a “Riviera” atmosphere – seems divorced from the region’s policy. The Palestinians have long resisted the pressures to force them from their remaining land, despite decades of continuous Israeli occupation.
Trump on Tuesday again stressed that the Palestinians would not want to stay in Gaza, apparently ignoring their attachment to their land.
This nationalism was recently seen when hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians used the ceasefire to return to northern Gaza, even if most of their homes had been destroyed by Israel. The majority of them made the trip on foot.
Their message was simple: that they were not going to leave.