On March 5, 2025, the Arab League held an extraordinary meeting in Cairo and unanimously adopted the Gaza Plan presented by Egypt. This Egyptian plan is not only an alternative to U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to evict Palestinians from Gaza and rebuild Gaza as a tourist center but also offers a new window of opportunity for the parties to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict within the framework of a two-state solution. In this regard, Egypt’s plan must be taken seriously and accepted by the U.N. and all relevant actors, and Egypt must strive to implement it without delay.
What does Egypt offer?
First of all, it is important to note that this plan envisages the construction of Gaza without the need for Palestinians to leave Gaza. In this way, it differs from the Gaza plan put forward by Trump or the Gaza plan dreamed up by Israel.
Moreover, since it does not impose any cost on the U.S. for the reconstruction of Gaza and envisages that Arab countries will cover the total cost of approximately $53 billion, there is no reason why Trump should not accept it. Since Trump’s main focus since taking office has been to stop spending U.S. money in unnecessary places and to save money, this plan cannot be rejected on economic grounds.
In addition, the administration of Gaza will be left to a committee of Palestinian technocrats not affiliated with Hamas or the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which should not pose a problem for either the U.S. or Israel.
If the plan is accepted by all parties, a conference will be convened in Cairo within a month to discuss the economic aspects of the plan and to determine who will provide how much funding to implement it.
A total of 400,000 housing units will be built, 200,000 in the first phase of the five-year reconstruction process and 200,000 in the second phase. Palestinians living in Gaza will temporarily reside in seven reserve areas until the construction of these houses is completed, during which time their security will be guaranteed and all their needs will be met from the funds collected under the plan.
During this period, new housing will not only be built in Gaza, but a new port and airport are also planned to be built. It is also envisaged that infrastructure and social facilities such as schools, hospitals and mosques, which have been rendered unusable by the Israeli attacks since Oct. 7, will be rebuilt.
The plan calls for establishing a new police force to ensure security in Gaza and its training by Egypt and Jordan. Until this force is established, the plan also proposes the deployment of a temporary protection force by Arab states or the deployment of a peacekeeping force by the United Nations Security Council.
On the other hand, it aims to hold elections in the entire Palestinian territories within a year and to ensure that the Palestinian people will govern Palestine, thus eliminating the claims that the current administration is illegitimate.
As can be seen, the Egyptian plan responds to all of Israel’s security concerns and eliminates all of the reasons it has given for further massacres in Gaza. In addition, if this plan is accepted and implemented, there will be no obstacle to the normalization of Arab states in the region with Israel, which should be seen as a positive outcome by Israel.
Israel blocks humane solutions
Unfortunately, Israel missed a historic opportunity by not accepting this plan, which was prepared and presented by Egypt and unanimously accepted by the Arab League. This is because Trump’s so-called Deal of the Century in 2020 was deemed unacceptable because it did not meet any of the Palestinian demands. But this plan was not accepted by Israel, even though it met the demands of both the Palestinians, and Israel and the U.S.
The sad thing is that in the statement issued by the Israeli Foreign Ministry that the Arab League’s statement does not mention the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and fails to condemn Hamas, saying that this is a shortcoming of the plan and that it is stuck in the past, while calling on the states concerned not to dwell on the constraints of the past and to work together for a future of stability and security in the region. In other words, while Israel itself is still stuck on Oct. 7, it is asking other countries not to dwell on the past and to focus on the future.
Israel also objects to the assignment of tasks to the Palestinian Authority and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) within the plan, arguing that both of these organizations have been known for corruption in the past, have supported terrorism and have failed to solve the problems, and that these organizations not should have a say in the future of Palestine.
The most striking point in Israel’s statement is that for the first time, it criticizes all Arab states in the region, whereas until now, it has always distinguished between the Palestinians and other Arab countries. The statement, which states that “Arab states have been using Palestinians as pawns against Israel for 77 years and condemning them to refugee status in perpetuity,” shows that Israel is not only angry against Palestinians but also against other Arab countries.
Israel’s final counterargument is the ludicrous and absurd claim that while Trump’s plan gives Gazans a choice to stay or leave, the Egyptian plan does not provide Gazans any choice and deprives Palestinians who want to leave Gaza of their right to choose.
This is because Trump’s Gaza plan imposes the complete evacuation of Gaza and the transfer of Gazans to Egypt, Jordan or other third countries, without any choice. However, the Egyptian plan gives Gazans the right to stay in their own land, which is exactly what Gazans want. In other words, there is no pressure on Gazans to stay in Gaza.
It seems that Israel’s leaders rejected the Egyptian plan without having read it properly. If they had actually read it, at least they would not have come up with such absurd justifications, and they would have realized that this plan also serves Israel’s interests. But unfortunately, Israel has shown itself to be the intransigent party in this case as it has been so far.
Israel’s aim is not to bring peace and stability to the region but rather to ensure the continuation of conflict and chaos in the region and to benefit from it. In this way, it ignores international law and can carry out genocide against the Palestinians.
Imposition of Trump’s plan
All eyes are now on how the U.S. will react to this plan. The first statement from the White House merely said that Trump did not accept the Egyptian plan and that “the U.S. is committed to the previously stated plan to build a Hamas-free Gaza and will be in communication with the relevant countries on this issue.” In other words, it is unclear at this point what exactly is being opposed in the Egyptian plan or whether Trump’s plan will be combined with the Egyptian plan and a new plan will be presented.
The best thing about this plan, despite the objections of Israel and the U.S., is that Arab states have, perhaps for the first time, opposed an American plan and presented an alternative plan. And this is despite irrational reactions from Trump.
This solidarity shown by the Arab states has rekindled our hopes for the future of the region and is very meaningful in terms of showing that despite Israel’s disregard for all rules, if the Arab states are united, they can even bring Israel and the U.S. behind it to its knees.
We hope that the Arab states will realize their own potential, give up remaining passive and do their part to create a more just and peaceful Middle East.
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