Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, UAE discuss Arab support for Palestinians

By Omar Alothmani and Rania Abu Shamala

ISTANBUL (AA) – The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, Jordan, and the UAE held talks in Doha on Wednesday to discuss Arab support for the Palestinian people.

The meeting, also attended by Secretary-General of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Hussein Al-Sheikh, aimed to "coordinate efforts regarding developments related to the Palestinian issue," the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Discussions focused on "ways to align the Arab stance” and reviewed the outcomes of a recent emergency Arab summit in Cairo and an extraordinary meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Jeddah regarding support for the Palestinians, the statement said.

According to the statement, the meeting addressed "strategies for promoting and securing funding for the Arab-Islamic early recovery and reconstruction plan for Gaza.”

The Arab summit and OIC meeting approved a comprehensive Arab plan to rebuild Gaza without displacing its Palestinian residents. The plan is expected to take five years to complete, with an estimated cost of around $53 billion.

The Arab proposal came after US President Donald Trump's plan to "take over" Gaza and resettle Palestinians to develop it into a tourist destination. The idea was rejected by the Arab world and many other nations, who say it amounts to ethnic cleansing.

More than 48,500 people have been killed, mostly women and children, in a brutal Israeli war on Gaza since October 2023. The onslaught was paused under the ceasefire and prisoner swap deal, which took hold in January.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.