DUBAI (Reuters) – Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi left Riyadh after participating in an informal meeting on Friday to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with Gulf Arab states and Jordan, the presidency said in a statement on Facebook.
Arab countries are rushing to formulate an alternative to U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to redevelop war-torn Gaza into an international beach resort and his call on Egypt and Jordan to take in resettled Gaza Palestinians.
Both countries reject the proposal, citing national security concerns, but there are no signs Arab states are making serious progress on a counter-plan.
The meeting, called by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was attended by Jordan’s King Abdullah and Crown Prince Hussein, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and his national security adviser, Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmad al-Sabah and Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, a photo published with the statement showed.
Riyadh made no official mention of the talks, but sources familiar with the discussions told Reuters they tackled a mainly Egyptian proposal that could include up to $20 billion in funding over three years from wealthy Gulf and Arab states.
Major U.S. allies Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which is one of few Arab states to have normalised ties with Israel, have ruled out any displacement of Gaza Palestinians and said peacemaking should envisage a Palestinian state co-existing with Israel.
(Reporting by Nayera Abdallah; writing by Enas Alashray and Nayera Abdallah; editing by Alison Williams and Mark Heinrich)
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