US President Donald Trump has doubled down on comments about displacing Palestinians in Gaza to Jordan and Egypt, escalating tensions with the Hashemite Kingdom and possibly leaving King Abdullah II “vulnerable to geopolitical blackmail”, experts warned.
On January 25, Trump suggested that Jordan and Egypt should take in the two million or so Palestinians in Gaza, which sparked fears that the United States is angling for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza.
Jordan and Egypt’s leaders both rejected the proposal. But Trump repeated his idea on Thursday during a photo op in the Oval Office, hinting at the leverage he feels he has.
“They will do it. They will do it… We do a lot for them, and they’re gonna do it,” Trump told a journalist.
“This … does set up a major confrontation,” said Sean Yom, an associate professor of political science at Temple University.
“King Abdullah II has repeatedly said the ‘alternative homeland’ scenario and further Palestinian displacement is a red line … but Jordan is also directly dependent upon US aid and security assistance – the kingdom is vulnerable to geopolitical blackmail,” Yom, who has written extensively on the Middle East and North Africa, told media.
Analysts agree that Trump could try and coerce Jordan into accepting Palestinians, using this reliance on US aid.
In 1994, Israel and Jordan signed the Wadi Araba Treaty, which established diplomatic, tourism and trade relations between the two countries and set the ground for Jordan to receive billions of dollars in US aid as debt relief.
The US now gives Jordan $1.45bn a year in bilateral foreign assistance, making it one of the top recipients of foreign aid, after Israel and Egypt.
United Arab Emirates Dirham Exchange Rate
