Is the front opposed by Arab states to US President Donald Trump's proposal to forcibly displace two million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip still a united one? Asked about the existence of an Arab counter-proposal for the reconstruction of the Palestinian enclave, Yousef Al-Otaiba, the influential United Arab Emirates (UAE) ambassador to Washington, unchallenged in the post since 2008, expressed doubts.

"I don't see an alternative to what's being proposed. I really don't. So if someone has one, we're happy to discuss it, we're happy to explore it, but it hasn't surfaced yet," the diplomat said during the World Government Summit in Dubai on Wednesday, February 12. He added that the UAE would "try" to find common ground with the Trump administration. "I think the current approach is going to be difficult," he said. "But at the end of the day, we're all in the solution-seeking business. We just don't know where it's going to land yet."

Al-Otaiba's doubts contrast with the determination of Arab partners to thwart Trump's plan. Egypt and Jordan, both of whom are strongly opposed to the forced displacement of Gazans on their territory, which they see as a red line, took the lead once they realized that the American president's proposal was no mere whim. During his meeting with Trump in Washington on Tuesday, Jordan's King Abdullah II was the first to step up against the US president, and was visibly nervous about this perilous exercise.

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