News / Palestine / Egypt

‘No to displacement’: Egyptians protest against Trump’s scheme to relocate Gazans

Friday, 31 January 2025 2:14 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 31 January 2025 2:15 PM ]

Hundreds of Egyptians gather in front of the Rafah Border Crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, to show solidarity with the Palestinians and to reject US President Donald Trump’s proposal to forcibly displace Gazans, on January 31, 2025. (Photo by AP)

Thousands of Egyptians have gathered in Rafah along the border with the Gaza Strip for a pro-Palestine demonstration in opposition to US President Donald Trump’s proposal to forcibly displace Gazans.

On Friday, protesters gathered at the Rafah border crossing with Gaza, denouncing attempts to liquidate the Palestinian cause.

They also reaffirmed their support for the Cairo government’s stance on the proposal.

In the early hours of Friday, Egyptians got in buses heading to the border city of Rafah in North Sinai to reject Trump’s proposal to relocate Gazans to the neighboring countries of Egypt and Jordan.

Lawmakers and members of different political parties and trade unions were among the protesters.

Carrying the Egyptian and Palestinian flags, they chanted slogans in solidarity with the Palestinians, including “No to displacement… We are behind you, Mr. President.”

On Saturday, Trump touted a plan to “clean out” the Gaza Strip and relocate its residents to Jordan and Egypt either “temporarily or long-term.”

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Wednesday said “The deportation or displacement of the Palestinian people is an injustice in which we cannot participate.”

Jordan's King Abdullah II also rejected any forced displacement of Gazans.

Trump, however, insisted that Egypt and Jordan would accept displaced Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, saying "They will do it.”

"They're going to do it. We do a lot for them, and they're going to do it," he said on Thursday.

Trump insists Egypt, Jordan will accept displaced Gazans

Trump has insisted that Egypt and Jordan would accept displaced Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, despite the two nations having dismissed his plan to relocate Gazans there.

The Egyptian protesters denounced the proposal as a violation of the Palestinians’ right to self-determination.

Reaffirming Egypt’s support for the Palestinian cause, the demonstrators stressed that displacement is not the solution, calling for a “two-state” solution along the pre-1967 boundaries.

Trump’s remarks also sparked widespread condemnations from Palestine, the UN and the Arab world as a potentially fatal blow to the so-called two-state solution.

Analysts say any plans for relocating refugees will give the Israeli regime the excuse it needs to forcibly expel Palestinians from Gaza, and repopulate the territory with Israeli settlers.

Gaza’s 2.3 million population has been displaced multiple times and much of the besieged territory is in ruins.

On January 15, the Israeli regime, failing to achieve any of its war objectives including the “elimination” of Hamas or the release of captives, was forced to agree to a ceasefire deal with the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas.

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