People walk amid the destruction caused by the Israeli air and ground offensive in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip, on February 18, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP
President Donald Trump’s plans for resolving the Israel-Palestine crisis by ethnic cleansing or “relocating” Palestinian population of Gaza to other Arab states is expected to face strong opposition as Saudi Arabia prepares to host a mini Arab summit in Riyadh this weekend.
Apart from the summit, the region is also tense over the funeral, in Beirut, of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was assassinated in a missile attack in the Lebanese capital on 27 September 2024. The funeral is expected to be a show of strength for the Shia crescent from Iran to Lebanon.
Israel-Palestine conflict: Full coverage
The summit of the five Arab powers was earlier planned for Thursday (February 20, 2025) but has now been pushed to Friday (February 21, 2025) and expanded where all the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, UAE, Oman and Qatar) will be joined by Egypt and Jordan to brainstorm over the U.S.-Israel plans.
While the mainly Arab Muslim nations will display unity of purpose, the funeral of Nasrallah is expected to showcase the people power of the Iran-Lebanon Shia crescent that can heat up further in case Israel, now armed by the U.S.-made 2000-pound bunker buster bombs, carries out an attack on Iran in the coming weeks.
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Diplomats participating in the dialogues told The Hindu that the impact of President Trump’s Gaza plans will play out in the region over a span of the next six months and the latest round of talks being held in Riyadh is an attempt to stop sudden escalation from breaking out.
Analysts pointed out that the solution that President Trump has been suggesting is inherently weak as it is part of the ‘America First’ policy which does not take into consideration interests of other stakeholders like the European powers, who are expected to face the blowback if the Arab bloc chooses to form a common front in support of the two-state solution for the Palestinians.
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Najib Saab, Secretary General of Beirut-based Arab Forum for Environment and Development said that the the just concluded meeting between U.S. secretary of state Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has shown that the Trump-Vance administration is not giving importance to the opinion of the European Union.
Najib Saab did not rule out an Arab pushback as a U.S.-Israel led attempt to relocate Palestinian population from Gaza Strip could destabilize Egypt and Jordan triggering existential concerns across the major states of the region.
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On the sidelines of the Saudi Media Forum, a media conclave being held parallel to the peace talks on Ukraine and Gaza here, Mr. Saab told The Hindu that President Trump’s Gaza plans are supported by the fact that he does not have to worry about disruption of energy supplies to the U.S. as the U.S. is now energy sufficient.
“However the same is not true for Europe which remains dependent on the Gulf for energy supplies and Europe will face energy disruption if President Trump’s Gaza formula destabilizes the region,” he said.
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The Arab powers that will meet in Riyadh this weekend also have to contend with the fact that any display of weakness by them will give opportunity to the Shia front that will carry out a show of strength on Sunday (February 23, 2025) as people from Iran, Iraq, Syria and other places are flying into Beirut to attend the funeral of Nasrallah.
To counter any such impression, UAE’s President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Wednesday (February 19, 2025) hosted U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Abu Dhabi and opposed proposals for displacing Palestinians from Gaza.
Mr Saab pointed out that Abu Dhabi has followed the plan as laid down by Saudi Arabia which had quickly opposed Mr. Trump’s plans in the first week of February. “The Arab position is more or less clear that without an independent Palestine, Israel will not get to normalize relation with major Arab powers,” said Mr. Saab.
Published – February 20, 2025 10:43 am IST
