Donald Trump appeared to prompt Jordan's King Abdullah to say he
would take in Palestinians from Gaza, as Trump hosted him in the White
House on Tuesday
Egypt’s President Sisi had already used the country’s foreign ministry to issue a statement
dismissing Trump’s dream of a tourist paradise for the global elite,
ethnically cleansed of Palestinians. The statement which was released
after a meeting between Egypt's Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and
Secretary of State Marco Rubio rejected “any compromise” and reaffirmed
Egypt’s “determination to continue working with all regional and
international partners to achieve comprehensive and just peace in the
region and to establish an independent Palestinian state on its land, in
accordance with international law based on the June 4, 1967, borders,
with Jerusalem as its capital.”
Hussein Haredi, a former diplomat poured scorn on Trump’s threat to withdraw aid to force Egyptian acceptance:
We do not care about Trump’s threats. Egypt is fully prepared to
confront them and these threats will backfire on US interests in the
region. This is not just Sisi’s stance or the Egyptian government’s
stance, it is the stance of the Egyptian people.
And while the UAE is showing a degree of reluctance to openly challenge Trump and Israel, Saudi Arabia is not holding back. A statement
released 9 February by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs - whilst
careful not to mention the president by name - left no doubt about
where Saudi stands:
The Kingdom values the positions that emphasize the centrality of the Palestinian issue to the Arab and Muslim countries.
In this context, the Kingdom stresses its categorical rejection
to such statements that aim to divert attention from the continuous
crimes committed by the Israeli occupation against the Palestinian
brothers, including the ethnic cleansing they are subjected to.
Trump and ‘America First’ has achieved a first of sorts by uniting
the often fissiparous Arab nations into a unified and coherent stand in
defence of Palestine and the rights of the Palestinian people. Towards
that end the leaders of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Egypt are
reportedly meeting in Cairo ahead of a 27 February Arab States
emergency summit.
Whether that will be enough to stave off the “hell” that Trump says
is coming this Saturday at noon unless all the remaining hostages are
released is a question left hanging ominously. Should Netanyahu with
Washington’s approval resume the war the slaughter of Palestinians who
have trekked back to their ruined neighbourhoods will be profound and
terrible. And what of the fate of the remaining hostages and their
families who have been betrayed time and again by Netanyahu? By making
the demand they all should be released this week-end the ceasefire is
already broken and the lives of the surviving hostages gravely
imperilled.
Surely this is a time for a robust and strenuous intervention from
the UK. The signs though are not good. The Starmer government is anxious
not to annoy Donald Trump.
In Paris earlier in the week the UK stood with America as the only
two countries (out of sixty) to decline to sign an EU initiative to
develop a regulatory framework for AI. The US vice president J.D Vance lectured
European delegates at the AI Action Summit saying that “excessive
regulation could kill a transformative industry.” The US he announced
will be the “gold standard” that will attract “partners of choice” and
will create jobs in America. The veep reportedly didn’t stick around to
listen to the speeches of his host French President Emmanuel Macron or
the EU president Ursula von der Leyen.
The UK government claimed
the reason for not signing was because “the declaration didn't provide
enough practical clarity on global governance, nor sufficiently address
harder questions around national security and the challenge AI poses to
it.”
Meanwhile the threat that America First poses to global stability and
to the search for peace in the Middle East remains a door that Keir
Starmer declines to open.
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