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By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Five Arab foreign ministers and a senior Palestinian official sent a joint letter to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio opposing plans to displace Palestinians from Gaza, as suggested by President Donald Trump in late January.
The letter was sent on Monday and signed by the foreign ministers of Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE, as well as Palestinian presidential adviser Hussein al-Sheikh. It was reported first by Axios, which said the top diplomats met in Cairo over the weekend.
Trump first floated the suggestion of Jordan and Egypt taking in Palestinians from Gaza on Jan. 25. When asked if he was suggesting that as a long-term or short-term solution, the president said: "Could be either."
The U.S. president's comments echoed long-standing Palestinian fears of being permanently driven from their homes and were labeled as a proposal of ethnic cleansing by critics. Jordan, Egypt and other Arab nations opposed the proposal.
"Reconstruction in Gaza should be through direct engagement with and participation of the people of Gaza. Palestinians will live in their land and help rebuild it," the letter said.
"And they should not be stripped of their agency during reconstruction as they must take ownership of the process with the support of the international community."
Israel's military assault on Gaza has killed over 47,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry, and led to accusations of genocide and war crimes that Israel denies. The fighting has currently paused amid a fragile ceasefire.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on Oct. 7, 2023, when Palestinian Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Chris Reese and Stephen Coates)
