Shafaqna India: A planned meeting of Arab leaders in Saudi Arabia to discuss alternatives to US President Donald Trump’s controversial Gaza plan has been postponed by one day and broadened to include additional countries, according to Arab diplomats.
The summit, originally scheduled for Thursday, February 20, will now take place on Friday, February 21, as confirmed by both Saudi and Arab diplomatic sources.
Initially, only three Arab states were expected to attend, but the gathering will now involve the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members—United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, and Kuwait—along with Egypt and Jordan. The expanded summit will focus on formulating Arab alternatives to Trump’s Gaza proposal.
A Saudi source indicated that one influential Gulf country had expressed dissatisfaction with being excluded from the meeting, prompting the inclusion of all GCC members, although the specific country was not identified.
Trump’s plan, which calls for taking control of Gaza and relocating its more than two million residents to Jordan or Egypt, has been met with widespread rejection from Arab nations, who argue that it would violate international law.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed Washington’s openness to hearing proposals from Arab nations regarding Gaza during his recent trip to Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. Rubio’s comments followed a ceasefire in Gaza that went into effect on January 19 after over 15 months of conflict.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II reaffirmed his country’s opposition to the displacement of Palestinians in a meeting with Trump at the White House last week. According to a statement, King Abdullah reiterated that this stance reflects the unified position of the Arab world, a view Trump continued to oppose during their discussion.
