Arab leaders to endorse Gaza building plan to counter Trump

Leaders of Arab countries are meeting in Cairo to endorse a Gaza reconstruction plan to counter the controversial ideas of US President Donald Trump, though a number of crucial details need to be ironed out before the proposal is finalized.

The proposition is expected to be unveiled at an extraordinary Arab League summit convening in the Egyptian capital on Tuesday. Bahrain King Hamad Isa Al-Khalifa, Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan and United Nations Secretary General António Guterres were among the first arrivals.

But while the country representatives are seeking to project a unified front against Trump’s suggestion of displacing Palestinians, the initiative faces a number of major hurdles, according to several people briefed on the approximately 150-page document.

Disagreements exist over the issue of Palestinian governance of Gaza, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing sensitive material. Security of the enclave is another outstanding matter, they said, as well as the future of Hamas.

A 90-page version of the plan seen by Bloomberg News dated March 2025 and titled “Gaza, Palestine: Early Recovery and Gaza Reconstruction and Development” envisions multiple phases lasting between six months to five years at a total cost of $53.2 billion.

Initially, 1.5 million Palestinians will be housed in temporary housing units spread out over seven sites across the war-ravaged territory as the monumental task of removing nearly 50 million tons of rubble gets underway, according to the document.

The day-to-day affairs of Gaza will be run by “an independent committee consisting of technocrats and non-partisan” Palestinian figures “under the umbrella of the Palestinian government,” paving the way for the full return of the Palestinian Authority to Gaza, the plan said.

Egypt and Jordan will vet and train people to police Gaza with the possibility of deploying “an international defense/peacekeeping force with clear references” mandated by the UN Security council, added the draft, without providing additional details.

Ending “the predicament of the multiplicity of armed Palestinian factions” could only happen within the context of a “timetable for the establishment of the Palestinian state and the building up of its capabilities,” it said. Hamas is not mentioned by name.

Overshadowing the summit is the risk that fighting resumes between Israel and Hamas after a six-week ceasefire expired on Sunday, making any reconstruction plan moot for the time being.

Israel, with apparent US backing, wants to extend the initial phase of the truce agreement brokered in January by Egypt, Qatar and the US. Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the US and many other countries, insists the parties must move on to Phase 2 negotiations that would lay out an end to the war.

Israel has suspended humanitarian aid to Gaza as a result of the impasse, triggering rebukes from Arab mediators as well as Saudi Arabia, which has been rallying countries in the region around the alternative to Trump’s redevelopment proposals for Gaza.

During a visit to Washington by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month, Trump said the US should take over Gaza, relocate Palestinians and develop a holiday resort, sparking criticism across the Middle East and elsewhere.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said Sunday there is “no alternative to the faithful and complete implementation by each side” of the January ceasefire agreement, signaling a return to war would derail all effort that’s been put into planning for a postwar Gaza.

“Sustaining the ceasefire is what matters,” he said in a press conference in Cairo with the European Union’s Commissioner for the Mediterranean, Dubravka Šuica. “This is absolutely crucial.”

The Israel-Hamas war has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians since it began in October 2023, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health authorities. Much of the territory lies in ruin with reconstruction costs estimated at $50 billion. Israel launched it’s Gaza campaign after Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and abducting 250.

Iron Out Details

Abdelatty said the “Egyptian-Arab-Islamic” Gaza reconstruction plan would be shared with Arab leaders in Cairo to receive their broad backing, and then move on to a ministerial-level meeting in Saudi Arabia to iron out the details. That would include representatives of majority Muslim countries like Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Turkey and others.

Diplomatic trips to international capitals would follow, to “explain this plan and rally support for it” as well as “extensive consultations with the principal donor states,” the foreign minister said.

But it will be a challenge to convince many countries particularly Western ones to back the plan when it does not explicitly address how Hamas can be removed and disarmed. It’s a non-starter for Israel and most likely the US and EU too.

“On Hamas we are clear, Hamas is not an interlocutor for us,” said the EU’s Šuica.

Saudi Arabia supports removing Hamas’s hardline military and political leadership from Gaza but says it’s necessary to deal with what it has described as moderate elements of the group, said two people with knowledge of the situation. The United Arab Emirates has adopted a more uncompromising stance, they said, and wants a complete overhaul of the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority too before it commits any funds to reconstruction, they added.

Egyptian, Saudi and UAE officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Another potential obstacle to the plan is the repeated statements by Gulf states that they will not fund reconstruction in Gaza without a commitment and path to a Palestinian state, something Israel has rejected. It’s unclear where Trump stands on this issue.

Ibrahim Saif, a former Jordanian minister with knowledge of deliberations preceding Tuesday’s summit, said the plan has a chance if it addresses Israel’s security concerns and is defended by the core US-allied states involved: Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

“If these five countries push together and stand their ground, then he can’t say ‘I don’t like it’,” said Saif, referring to Trump.