Egypt is spearheading a diplomatic drive to convene an Islamic summit to broaden opposition to US President Donald Trump's plan for the Gaza Strip, sources briefed on this effort have told The National.
Mr Trump has said he wants to permanently displace Gaza's 2.3 million Palestinians, take control of the war-devastated enclave and rebuild it as the “Riviera of the Middle East”.
The sources said Saudi Arabia and Qatar were also involved in the diplomatic effort to hold a summit of the 57-state, Saudi-based Organisation of Islamic Co-operation.
The Islamic gathering would be held after an Arab summit due to take place in Cairo on February 27, but no exact date has been agreed, said the sources. They added that it would take place in either Egypt or Saudi Arabia.
It is the latest in a series of diplomatic moves by Egypt to build broad international opposition to the proposals by Mr Trump, which demand that Egypt and Jordan take in the Palestinians displaced from their homeland. He has threatened to withdraw aid from the two US-allied nations if they refuse.
The aim of the summits is to demonstrate a united and broad opposition front against Mr Trump's Gaza proposals so that he may be persuaded to drop the idea, said officials.
However, observers say this course of action appears unlikely at present, given the frequency with which the US President asserts his commitment to the plans.
Egypt borders both Gaza and Israel − with which it signed a US-sponsored peace treaty in 1979 that has long been considered a cornerstone of regional stability. The treaty, however, has come under growing stress since the Israel-Gaza war began in October 2023. Supporting Palestinians' right to self-determination is a central plank of Egypt's foreign policy, something that has often strained ties with Israel.
“Rallying the Arab and Muslim worlds against Trump's ideas for Gaza is meant to put pressure on the American president and influence public opinion in the West,” said one source.
“What Trump has proposed can possibly be undermined and made to eventually crumble, so long as there's Arab and Islamic unity. It's important at this juncture to revive the old sentiments and mindset of Arab nationalism. It's the best defence of the Palestinian cause.”
The Arab summit, the sources have said, will adopt an Egyptian proposal for convening a conference of international donors and regional stakeholders on the reconstruction of Gaza, where most built-up areas have been laid to waste by Israel's military campaign.
A fragile truce that paused the fighting on January 19 has come under renewed stress this week, amid threats by Israel to resume its attacks in Gaza to eradicate Hamas. On Thursday, Hamas said it would resume the release of hostages, which may ease these tensions.
Egypt, according to the sources, has a Gaza reconstruction plan of its own to counter Mr Trump's proposals. It will be presented to the Arab summit and the proposed donors conference that will follow. The sources declined to share precise details of this plan, except that it would be staggered over 15 years, with the first three years focused on the restoration of essential services and infrastructure.
However, it does not entail moving Gaza's residents outside of the territory, they stressed.
Tension between Egypt and the US over Mr Trump's Gaza proposals is juxtaposed with a close alliance dating back to the 1970s and involving wide-ranging co-operation on security, counter-terrorism and intelligence-sharing, as well as diplomatic co-ordination.
Egypt has also received billions of dollars in US economic and military aid over the years, with an annual $1.3-billion military assistance programme that has helped the most populous Arab nation modernise its armed forces, after years of reliance on Soviet-era weapons.
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has been careful to avoid a public confrontation with Mr Trump over the US leader's proposals, said the sources, but also has shown unwavering opposition to the plans, saying Cairo will never be part of an injustice against the Palestinians.
Simultaneously, he has been lavishly praising Mr Trump as a “strong leader” capable of bringing peace and stability to a Middle East torn by the Arab-Israeli conflict for close to a century. The Egyptian leader and his government have also been commending Cairo's “strategic partnership” with Washington in their pronouncements.
However, said the sources, Mr El Sisi has indefinitely postponed a visit to Washington that had been expected later this month but which was never officially confirmed by Cairo or the White House.
The sources said the decision to put off the visit followed an assessment of the mood in the Trump administration and among loyal members of Congress. This indicated that the visit could fuel tension to a degree that may inflict serious damage to relations.
“El Sisi is in a no-win situation. He cannot publicly push back against Trump's Gaza idea while seated next to him in the Oval Office. Finessing the issue to avoid a public confrontation can also be very damaging for the Egyptian leader at home,” said Michael Hanna, director of the US programme at the International Crisis Group think tank.
“It is not an opportune moment for El Sisi to go to Washington. He will have little wriggle room there and the visit can potentially do more harm than good,” said Mr Hanna, who is based in New York.
However, explained the sources, Mr Trump's threat to stop economic and military aid to Egypt if it doesn't go along with his Gaza plan could run into strong resistance in Washington given the close military ties between the two countries. Egypt, for example, grants US warships priority in transiting the Suez Canal and makes its air space routinely available to American military aircraft. The two militaries frequently hold joint war games.
“That relationship may well be beyond the reach of any Oval Office occupant. Military aid to and co-operation with Egypt is of strategic value to the United States. The Pentagon understands that very well,” said the source.
Egypt and the US, along with Qatar, brokered the ceasefire that has paused the Gaza war after more than a year of on-and-off mediation between Hamas and Israel. Cairo, with US blessing, had mediated the end of previous fighting between Hamas and Israel.
As part of its continuing diplomatic campaign against Mr Trump's Gaza plans, Mr El Sisi dispatched Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty to Washington this week to explain to US officials, key members of Congress and well-connected think tanks Cairo's position and the gravity of the US President's proposals, said the sources.
Mr Abdelatty's overriding message in Washington, they added, was to warn that, if implemented, Mr Trump's proposals could undermine the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty and torpedo any prospect of a revival of the long-stalled Middle East peace process − plunging the region into years of further upheaval.
Egypt and Israel fought four, fully-fledged wars between 1948 and 1973. More than 50 years after the last conflict ended, Israel remains the most likely future war adversary in the doctrine of the Egyptian military, with the arid and sparsely populated Sinai Peninsula the expected main theatre of operations.
Sinai, with a coastline on both the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, has been repeatedly mentioned as the most likely home for displaced Palestinians from neighbouring Gaza.
Significantly, Egypt's Defence Minister Gen Abdel Maguid Saqr was at hand on Monday when the Third Army – whose primary mandate has traditionally been to protect Sinai – conducted war drills.
“The commander of the armed forces … demanded from the men of the field Third Army to maintain the highest level of combat readiness, so the armed forces can continue to carry out its tasks and responsibilities under any circumstances,” said a military statement.
