Muslim nations endorse alternative to Trump’s Gaza takeover plan
Agency :
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation on Friday endorsed an Arab League counter-proposal to US President Donald Trump’s controversial plan to take over Gaza and displace its residents, two ministers have said.
The decision by the 57-member grouping came at an emergency meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, three days after the Arab League ratified the plan at a summit in Cairo.
The Egyptian-crafted alternative to Trump’s widely condemned takeover proposes to rebuild the Gaza Strip under the future administration of the Palestinian Authority.
“The emergency ministerial meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation adopted the Egyptian plan, which has now become an Arab-Islamic plan,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said, in comments echoed by his Sudanese counterpart.
“It is certainly a very positive thing,” Abdelatty said.
Trump triggered global outrage by suggesting the US “take over” Gaza and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East,” while forcing its Palestinian inhabitants to relocate to Egypt or Jordan.
Cameroonian Foreign Minister Lejeune Mbella, chairman of the Council of Foreign Ministers, said the meeting was called in light of “new developments in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, including calls for the displacement of Palestinians.”
He urged the full implementation of the agreement with a view to reaching a final solution to the conflict via a “concerted and multilateral approach.”
Mbella stressed, however, that “this approach can only be applicable and relevant within the framework of the two-state solution, with Israel and Palestine living side by side within internationally recognized borders, thus ensuring comprehensive peace in the Middle East.”