King Abdullah II of Jordan shut down the prospect of allowing Palestinian refugees fleeing northern Gaza into his country or Egypt, calling it a “red line” — amid a diplomatic campaign to establish safe zones within the besieged enclave.
Speaking at a press conference after meeting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin Tuesday, Abdullah categorically rejected the idea of offering Gazans a free passage into neighboring countries.
“There will be no refugees in Jordan and no refugees in Egypt,” the kinng declared, adding that the humanitarian situation must be contained inside Gaza and the West Bank.
“That is a red line, because I think that is the plan by certain of the usual suspects to try and create de facto issues on the ground,” Abdullah added,
He was apparently referring to Israel’s calls for some 1.1 million Gazans to head south, toward the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, ahead of its impending ground offensive.
Fearing an influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees into its country, Egypt has resisted pressure to open the crossing, even to allow foreigners and Palestinians with dual nationality to pass, until humanitarian aid is allowed to flow into Gaza.
As part of international diplomatic efforts to alleviate the suffering of Palestinians trapped inside Gaza, a bipartisan group of US Congress members has called on Egypt to establish and maintain safe zones in the southern part of the narrow enclave that is home to more than 2 million people.
The safe zones, Democrats and Republicans wrote in a letter to the Egyptian ambassador to the U.S. Motaz Zahran cited by Axios, should include “humanitarian access corridors, for civilians seeking refuge from the fighting in the north of the [Gaza] Strip.”
During a whirlwind tour of Arab nations last week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke out in support of creating “safe zones” in Gaza. He said he was working with UN agencies, Israel and other governments in the region to implement the plan.
“We have urged the Israelis to use every possible precaution to avoid harm to civilians,” Blinken said. “We recognize many Palestinian families in Gaza are suffering through no fault of their own and that Palestinian civilians have lost their lives.”
Jordan’s monarch on Tuesday issued a dire warning that allowing the war to spread could have disastrous consequences for the Middle East.
“The whole region is on the brink of falling into the abyss,” Abdullah said. “All our efforts are needed to make sure we don’t get there.”
Scholz, who will travel to Israel later today, also warned against an escalation of hostilities.
“We have a common goal to prevent a conflagration in the region,” the chancellor said. “I once again expressly warn Hezbollah and Iran not to intervene in this conflict.”
Jordan on Wednesday will host a four-party summit in Amman with President Biden and Egyptian and Palestinian leaders to discuss the “dangerous” repercussions of the war in Gaza for the region, state media said.
The discussions would focus on ways to halt “the ongoing war in Gaza and ways to find a political horizon that would allow the revival of the peace process,” an official statement said.
King Abdullah will also separately hold a summit with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al Sisi and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
With Post wires