By Nafisa Eltahir and Pesha Magid
CAIRO/RIYADH (Reuters) – Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is expected to travel to Riyadh on Thursday for discussions about an Arab plan for Gaza, two Egyptian security sources said.
Arab states are expected to discuss a post-war plan for Gaza reconstruction, possibly to counter U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to redevelop the strip under U.S. control.
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar are set to review and discuss the Arab plan in Riyadh before it is presented at a scheduled Arab summit which takes place in Cairo on March 4, the sources said.
On Friday, a gathering of Arab state leaders, including Jordan, the UAE and Qatar, was expected to take place in Saudi Arabia, which is spearheading Arab efforts on Trump’s plan, although some sources said the date had not been confirmed yet.
Arab states were dismayed by Trump’s plan to “clean out” Palestinians from Gaza and resettle most of them in Jordan and Egypt, to create a Middle East Riviera, an idea immediately rejected by Cairo and Amman and seen in most of the region as deeply destabilising.
(Reporting Ahmed Mohamed and Nafisa Eltahir in Cairo; Pesha Magid in Riyadh; writing by Maha El Dahan; Editing by Alison Williams, William Maclean)
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