By Roger Balman, London
For Jordan’s King Abdullah II, meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington was a balancing act. In a gesture of goodwill, he sought to ease the situation: Jordan was willing to take in 2,000 seriously ill children from the Gaza Strip, Abdullah announced in the Oval Office. However, he refrained from making a clear statement on Trump’s proposed resettlement of all Palestinians from the coastal enclave. Instead, he said he would consult with other Arab states such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
As the head of state of a country where more than half of the population has Palestinian roots, the monarch has so far categorically rejected the forced resettlement of Palestinians—for several reasons. Like many of his citizens, Abdullah II fears that once displaced, the Palestinians may never be allowed to return to their homeland. Moreover, he is well aware that accepting more refugees from Gaza could further strain Jordan’s already fragile social fabric.
At the same time, Jordan is more dependent on foreign financial aid than most other countries in the region. With a population of 11 million, the country has taken in around one million refugees in recent years—mainly from neighboring Syria, but also from Iraq. In return for hosting refugees, Jordan receives financial assistance, primarily from the United States. But that support now seems to be at risk. Trump initially suggested he might withhold aid payments. However, in Abdullah’s presence, he walked back the statement, saying such threats were unnecessary. Nonetheless, the possibility remains.
Washington recently provided Jordan with more than $1.4 billion annually—for the military, the national budget, and humanitarian aid. A rejection of Trump’s plan to accept Palestinians from Gaza could therefore have significant consequences for Jordan’s economy. The temporary freeze Trump placed on the bulk of global financial aid for 90 days has already resulted in many Jordanians losing their jobs or seeing their businesses suffer. If Trump follows through on his threat, Jordan would have little choice but to seek financial support amounting to billions from other countries.
Other Arab states are also under pressure, particularly Egypt. Trump has threatened to cut aid to Cairo if it refuses to resettle Palestinians. In 2023 alone, the U.S. provided Egypt with around $1.5 billion in aid, four-fifths of which went to the military—despite President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s increasingly authoritarian rule, enforced with the help of the army and intelligence services. For the stability of Sisi’s regime, U.S. financial support is crucial. Egypt is grappling with a severe economic crisis, heavily indebted and needing to raise billions annually to service its loans.
If Sisi gives in to U.S. pressure and agrees to resettle Palestinians, he risks triggering protests—a dangerous scenario for an autocrat who has ruled for over a decade. Though he has severely curtailed freedom of speech and forced nearly all his critics into exile or prison, the Palestinian issue could still shake the country. The symbolism of the Sinai Peninsula—often suggested as a possible resettlement area—plays a key role. Israel occupied the sparsely populated region between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea from 1967 to 1982. For many Egyptians, settling Palestinians in northern Sinai is just as unthinkable as voluntarily handing over Egyptian territory to Israel.
So far, Egypt has vehemently rejected the idea of resettling Palestinians, citing security concerns. Officials argue that militant refugees could use Egyptian soil to attack Israel, provoking Israeli retaliation. Alternatively, displaced Palestinians could be recruited by insurgent extremists in northern Sinai, where the Egyptian army is engaged in a long-standing conflict. This domestic and international dilemma likely influenced Sisi’s decision to position himself as a mediator in the Gaza war.
Morocco has also been mentioned as a potential destination for Palestinian resettlement. However, this proposal did not come from Trump but from Israel’s Consul General in Los Angeles. In an interview with CBN News, Israel Bachar suggested that Palestinians from Gaza could be relocated to the North African country, as well as to the internationally unrecognized Republic of Somaliland—an autonomous region in Somalia—and Puntland, another Somali region.
Unlike in Israeli and international media, this suggestion has barely resonated in Morocco. King Mohammed VI is a firm supporter of the two-state solution and categorically rejects the forced resettlement of Palestinians. Nevertheless, he has maintained a neutral relationship with Trump. During Trump’s first presidency, the U.S. became the first permanent member of the UN Security Council to recognize Morocco’s claims to the disputed Western Sahara. In return, Morocco normalized diplomatic relations with Israel.
