YONI BEN MENECHEM -- The PA claims that this is an idea by elements on the Israeli right to make a transfer to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and that they managed to plant it among Trump's advisors.

The idea of ​​voluntary migration of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Arab countries, even if it is migration for the purpose of improving their standard of living, arouses in them an ancient historical fear of a return to the "Nakba" disaster of 1948, or the "Naksa" disaster of 1967.

The war that broke out on October 7 was nicknamed "the second Nakba" in the Gaza Strip, which is greater than the Nakba of 1948.

But now, Trump's declaration of his intention to work for the migration of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Egypt and Jordan makes this Nakba more tangible for the residents of the Gaza Strip, according to a senior Fatah official. Although many residents of the Gaza Strip are tired of living there, and would like to emigrate to the US or Canada, they do not want to live in refugee camps in Arab countries.

The PA is shocked by Trump's new idea. On January 26, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas strongly rejected any "plan aimed at uprooting the Palestinian people from the Gaza Strip."

Abbas began urgent talks with leaders in Arab countries, Europe and the US, stressing that "the Palestinian people will not abandon their land and their holy places. We will not allow a repeat of the disasters that befell our people in 1948 and 1967, our people will not leave their land."

Hamas Politburo member Bassem Naim vowed on January 26 to "thwart" Trump's idea to "cleanse" Gaza of Palestinians and announced that "our people have already thwarted all the plans for uprooting for decades. The alternative homeland will also fail."

On January 27, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman al-Zafadi rejected Trump's idea on behalf of Jordan, saying that "Jordan rejects any talk of an alternative homeland for the Palestinians. Jordan is for the Jordanians, Palestine is for the Palestinians, and the solution to the Palestinian problem lies on the soil of Palestine.”

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry issued a statement in which it announced its opposition to “violating the rights of the Palestinian people through settlements, annexation of land, or through the displacement or encouragement of the transfer of the Palestinian population from its land, temporarily or in the long term.” The Egyptian statement warned that violating these rights “threatens stability and indicates the spread of the conflict in the region, and undermines the prospects for peace and coexistence between its peoples.”

Egyptian officials told the newspaper “Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed” that a meeting was held last December in the city of Aqaba in Jordan, which included officials from Egypt, Jordan, the United States, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates, to discuss the proposal announced by Trump and the prospects for its implementation on the ground.

The sources noted that Cairo has stuck to its position that denies the transfer of any population from the Gaza Strip to the Sinai Peninsula, and emphasized that there is strong opposition in the Egyptian military establishment to these plans.

Commentators in the Arab world see Trump's words as a continuation of the plans that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is promoting regarding the Middle East after the war, with the aim of eliminating the Palestinian problem, following the "Deal of the Century" plan that failed during his previous term. In their assessment, Trump will exert political and economic pressure on Egypt and Jordan to submit to his dictates.

Political sources in Jerusalem say that Trump's words constitute "thinking outside the box" and break with the decades-old concept of American foreign policy, which officially adopted the "two-state solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The comments come ahead of new diplomatic moves to advance the normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia in the coming weeks, after the expected meeting at the White House between Trump and Netanyahu in the first half of next month.

A senior Fatah official says that the bottom line is that Trump's new idea is considered by the Palestinians as a new nightmare that the US wants to impose on them as part of a conspiracy to uproot the Palestinian population from the Gaza Strip in coordination with Israel, and they will do everything to thwart it.

Photo: Reuters