By Janhvi Ahuja
Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia witnessed the very first meeting amongst many Arab leaders to discuss and formulate a plan to combat President Donald Trump’s actions of making the United States take over the ownership of Gaza. Trump’s plan involves the exclusion of the Palestinian population from the Gaza strip. He confirmed that he wanted to create a Middle Eastern “Rivera” in place of Gaza.
This meeting that included the countries of Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and many other Gulf Arab countries, took place just prior to the summit that was being conducted on 4th March.
This summit was originally announced as an “emergency summit” by Egypt during the time of early February. However, with Trump regaining his seat and becoming the President, the summit will now be taking place several weeks after his swearing in to further emphasize on the struggles amongst Arab countries. This might act as an opportunity for these nations to create a unified stance.
An expert on Saudi foreign policy, Umer Karim, mentioned that this summit was the “most consequential” throughout the decades when it comes to the wired Arab nations and the Palestinian issues.
On this matter, the Saudi Press Agency also made a confirmation stating that Jordan and Egypt were certainly partaking in the Riyadh summit along with their six fellow nations, all of whom are members of the Gulf Cooperation Council. This initiative was taken, keeping in mind the aims of strengthening cooperation while taking collective action.
Not only this, the Saudi Press Agency also states that the decisions issued by the “unofficial fraternal meeting” that conducted the capital of Saudi Arabia will soon be revealed along with the other agendas of the emergency Arab League. This will most likely be done on the summit being organised on 4th March.
After Donald Trump’s call to claim that the reconstruction of Gaza was only being done to easily relocate the people of Palestine, the rebuilding and betterment of the Gaza strip will certainly be an issue.
In regards to this issue, the first couple of months will focus on the early recovery of the land. Mohamed Hegazy, an Egyptian Diplomat shared his views stating that this process will take place “in three technical phases over a period of three to five years.”
He further added, “Heavy machinery will be brought in to remove debris, while designated safe zones will be identified within Gaza to temporarily relocate citizens.” The whole rebuilding will cost them around $53 billion however, it is necessary to ensure the restoration of proper functioning of the Gaza strip and its citizen’s livelihoods.