How Arab leaders should respond to Trump’s Gaza challenge

President Trump has laid down a challenge to Arab leaders: Show me a better plan for Gaza if you don’t like mine.

At an emergency summit in Cairo on March 4, the Arab League will attempt to hash out a counter to Trump’s proposal, which involves deporting Gaza’s population and turning the area into a new Riviera. It will come as no surprise if the League offers billions to rebuild Gaza, with the Gulf states footing the bill. But that would avoid the real problem, which is Hamas.

If the League wants to show Trump that its serious, any proposal it offers must begin from the premise that Hamas has no place in Gaza’s future, either in government or as a military force. Many Arab leaders say as much in private but are afraid of the backlash that might follow a public statement. Yet if Hamas remains, the cycle of rebuilding and destruction will continue, because endless war is Hamas’s plan.

The Arab League does not act without a consensus, which will not come easily on this point. Iraq hesitates to antagonize Iran, the leading patron of Hamas. Algeria continues to pose as a revolutionary nationalist power, and Tunisia follows a similar ideology. But if the League cannot act, then Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the Emirates should present a plan of their own.

Cairo and Amman face unrest at home when Gaza is in flames. Riyadh and Abu Dhabi want to see regional stability that is often hampered by Islamist groups like Hamas. Even if it is only these four that say Gaza’s recovery depends on ousting Hamas, that would send an unprecedented message to Palestinians that they do not have to accept the status quo in the coastal strip.

To deal with the expected backlash, Arab leaders who challenge Hamas should tell their subjects that they are doing what is necessary to prevent another devastating war and prevent the policy of expulsion that seems to have captured Trump’s imagination. This explanation will leave many unsatisfied, but it has the advantage of being true, and avoiding this truth until now has only encouraged radicalization.

While Trump initially showed no inclination to compromise on his plan to build a Palestinian Riviera, he then told Fox News, “I’m not forcing it. I’m just going to sit back and recommend it.”

Yet Arab leaders do not seem poised to take advantage of this opportunity. Several held an “unofficial” meeting in Riyadh on Feb. 21. This appeared to be a step toward finalizing a proposal for the summit that draws from Egypt’s unpublished plan for Gaza, which focuses on reconstruction but leaves security and governance unaddressed. In the long run, Cairo and Amman have more to gain from directly taking the lead on security by having their own troops provide security.

Early in the war, Jordan ruled out this option unequivocally. Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi asserted in November 2023 that "There is no chance for Arab peacekeeping forces to play a role in Gaza after the war." If Jordanian troops did play such a role, it would invite accusations of acting as proxies for Israel. But the prevalence of such fears is precisely why Gaza was left to Hamas, with catastrophic consequences.

In private, Arab leaders are much more candid about the necessity of solving the problem of Hamas. Shortly after the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre, the veteran diplomat Dennis Ross observed, “Over the past two weeks, when I talked to Arab officials throughout the region whom I have long known, every single one told me that Hamas must be destroyed in Gaza. They made clear that if Hamas is perceived as winning, it will validate the group’s ideology of rejection ... and put their own governments on the defensive.”

Now is the time for those officials to summon their courage. They should be prepared to tell both Palestinians and their own constituents that Hamas has repeatedly dragged Gaza into war, leaving devastation behind then rearming for the next conflict with Israel. It is they, not Hamas, who are preventing expulsion and possibly even creating a viable path to statehood.

There is no guarantee this plan will succeed. If Hamas finds a way to continue using Gaza as a base for military operations, it will likely provoke Israeli retaliations. This would put Arab peacekeepers in a bind, since direct cooperation with Israeli forces would be politically explosive.

Another difficult question will be what role to assign the Palestinian Authority. In the West Bank, it has proven both ineffective and oppressive. Yet in principle it remains the recognized representative of the Palestinian people. That said, it may accept a role that is more ceremonial than substantive because it is Hamas’s main rival and will reap tremendous benefits from its defeat.

No president besides Trump would have dared to propose resettling 2 million Gazans abroad. The proposal itself may never have won Arab support. Yet it sent shockwaves through the region, forcing Arab leaders to rethink old policies that only empowered Hamas. Now they need to take the next step and propose solutions that begin from the premise that Gaza can only thrive without Hamas.

Ahmad Sharawi is a research analyst at The Foundation for Defense of Democracies, focusing on Middle East affairs and the Levant.

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