Arab League summit to discuss Trump’s Gaza proposals could be postponed

Assistant secretary general Hossam Zaki says the delay is due to schedules of Arab leaders

Arab leaders and representatives at the 33rd Arab League Summit in Manama, Bahrain, last year. EPA

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An Arab summit called to oppose US President Donald Trump's controversial Gaza proposals could be "put off for a few days" for logistical reasons, according to a top Arab League diplomat.

Hossam Zaki, the league's assistant secretary general, told Egypt's ON television network that the possible postponement of the summit, which had been scheduled for February 27 in Cairo, will be because of the "engagements" and "schedules" of Arab leaders. He did not elaborate further.

The meeting, called by Palestine, was due to discuss and show a united front to counter Mr Trump's plan to resettle Gaza's 2.3 million residents outside the war-battered enclave – namely in Egypt and Jordan – so that the US can "own" the territory and turn it into the "Riviera of the Middle East".

The proposals have been regionally and globally condemned as tantamount to ethnic cleansing and as a step that runs contrary to the so-called two-state solution which envisages the creation of Palestinian and Israeli states that exist peacefully side by side.

"Egypt is determined that as many Arab leaders as possible are in attendance on the day of the summit," Mr Zaki said. "We are talking about a postponement of just a few days."

Sources familiar with behind-the-scenes consultations among the league's member states said that Egypt wanted the summit to adopt a plan it has envisioned to rebuild Gaza while the territory's residents stay put. It also wants the summit to embrace a call for an international conference of donors and regional stakeholders to pledge funds for the reconstruction of the devastated enclave.

Hossam Zaki, assistant secretary general of the Arab League. AP

"The idea behind the summit is to have a top-level Arab event to produce a solid, strong and integral Arab position on the subject of Palestine in general and resettlement in particular," Mr Zaki told ON. "There has to be an Arab narrative to counter America's proposals."

Meanwhile, Palestinian sources told Sky News Arabia that Hamas has expressed its willingness to transfer the administration of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority. However, the conditions under which this would take place remain unclear.

President Trump's proposals have put Cairo's close ties with the US to the test. President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, who forged close relations with the US President during Mr Trump's first term in office, said his country will never be party to an injustice to the Palestinians.

The sources said the Egyptian leader had indefinitely put off a visit to the White House that had been due but had never been confirmed by either government.

Egypt has been a close ally of the US for nearly 50 years, receiving billions of dollars in American military and economic aid as a reward for signing a US-sponsored peace treaty with Israel in 1979. The treaty, long viewed as a cornerstone of Middle East stability, has come under serious strain since the Gaza war broke out in October 2023. Egypt has borders with both Gaza and Israel.

Egypt, the US and Qatar brokered a ceasefire deal in the Gaza war that came into effect on January 19. More than 48,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, were killed in Israel's relentless bombardment of the coastal enclave before the ceasefire, according to Gaza's health ministry.