By Trevor Hunnicutt
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Donald Trump meets Jordan’s King Abdullah on Tuesday for what is likely to be a tense encounter following the U.S. president’s Gaza redevelopment idea and threat to cut aid to the U.S.-allied Arab country if it refuses to resettle Palestinians.
Trump’s proposal, floated one week ago, for the U.S. to take over Gaza, move its shell-shocked residents and transform the war-ravaged territory into the “Riviera of the Middle East” drew a negative response from the Arab world.
The concept has introduced new complexity into a sensitive regional dynamic, including a fragile ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Hamas on Monday said it would stop releasing Israeli hostages from Gaza until further notice, saying Israel was violating the agreement to end strikes that have pummeled Gaza. Trump later proposed canceling the ceasefire if Hamas doesn’t release all remaining hostages it took on October 7, 2023, by the weekend.
King Abdullah has said he rejected any moves to annex land and displace Palestinians. On Tuesday, he is expected to tell Trump such a move could spur radicalism, spread chaos in the region, jeopardize peace with Israel and threaten the country’s very survival.
For his part, Trump has modified aspects of his initial proposal and doubled down on others. He has expressed increasing impatience with Arab leaders who see the idea as unworkable.
“I do think he’ll take” refugees, Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday of King Abdullah.
Asked if he would withhold aid from Jordan and Egypt if they declined to do so, Trump said: “Yeah, maybe, sure, why not… if they don’t agree I would conceivably withhold aid.”
Sandwiched between Saudi Arabia, Syria, Israel and the occupied West Bank, Jordan is already home to more than 2 million Palestinian refugees in its population of 11 million, their status and number long providing a source of anxiety for the country’s leadership.
Amman has come to depend on Washington as its largest source of economic and military assistance for decades, which now stands at more than $1 billion a year.
Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994 but has strained relations with its neighbor. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Trump’s proposal is worthy of exploration.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Lincoln Feast.)
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