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WASHINGTON — Jordanian King Abdullah II told President Trump Tuesday that his nation will take in 2,000 sick children from the Gaza Strip — as Trump insisted that Amman take in many more of the roughly 2 million Palestinians in the enclave to allow the US to claim the territory free of charge.
“One of the things that we can do right away is take 2,000 children that are either cancer children or in a very ill state to Jordan as quickly as possible,” the king said in the Oval Office — one week after Trump shockingly said the US would take over Gaza and convert it into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”
Abdullah’s government previously rejected Trump’s plan to deport Gazans to his country and to Egypt, and the monarch said Tuesday that after taking in the children he would “then wait for, I think, the Egyptians to present their plan on how we can work with the president.”
Cairo also has rejected Trump’s plan to empty Gaza’s population — with Trump saying many Palestinians wouldn’t want to ever return to their homeland — but the president has continued to demand that Israel’s Arab neighbors relent and go along with the plan.
Trump told Abdullah that “what you just said about the 2,000 is fantastic. It’s so beautiful. It’s music to my ears.”
The president also said that he believes Amman and Cairo will set aside parcels of land for Gaza refugees — saying he was “99%” they would do so.
“It’s going to be where we ultimately choose as a group. And I believe we’ll have a parcel of land in Jordan. I believe we’ll have a parcel of land in Egypt. We may have someplace else, but I think when we finish our talks, we’ll have a place where they’re going to live very happily and very safely,” he said.
Gaza “could be a diamond,” Trump added.
“It’s fronting on the sea. It’s going to be a great economic development job. It’s going to put people to work, a lot of people to work. And those people are all going to be from the Middle East,” he said.
Trump previously floated Israel handing over control of the region after clearing out the population and any remaining Hamas terrorists after 16 months of fighting, and he confirmed Tuesday that he believes the US would not have to pay for the territory.
“We’re not going to buy anything. We’re going to have it. We’re going to keep it,” Trump said in the Oval Office.
“And we’re going to make sure that there’s going to be peace and there’s not going to be any problem, and nobody’s going to question it.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been supportive of Trump’s vision for taking over Gaza.
Trump initially said last week he’d be willing to dispatch US troops to secure Gaza before later saying he would not, and has emphasized that he expects wealthy regional nations to put up funds for reconstruction.
