White House acknowledges disagreement with Jordan over relocating Palestinians

Michael JordannBA legend

The two leaders reaffirmed their shared position in rejecting the displacement of Palestinians, and their keenness on maintaining coordination to ensure the Palestinians gain their full legitimate rights,

Jordan's Royal Hashemite Court announced

As a main lever of soft power, aid allows the US a significant margin to exercise influence, manage its image and cultivate common interest,

Toukan said

If the US insists on withdrawing aid, other groups and countries will certainly want to fill this gap,

Toukan told Al Jazeera

Abdullah II of Jordanking

Let's wait until the Egyptians can come and present it to the president and not get ahead of ourselves,

Abdullah told Trump

The Jordanian king's pledge to accept 2,000 sick Palestinian children from the Gaza Strip is a signal of his government's willingness to help and of its reliability as a security partner for the United States,

Brian Katulis, senior fellow for US Foreign Policy at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, told DW

You basically have a group of countries that are willing to do quite a lot to bring the vision of a lasting, sustainable peace between Israel and the Palestinians, wrapped up in a framework of what Trump wants most, which is an Israel-Saudi normalization accord,

he told DW

The irony here is that his own actions are taking him further away from that dream that he has,

Katulis said

In 20, 30 years? Maybe for the generations after us — but for us, I doubt it,

he told DW

In that sense, I think Trump is underestimating how existential that issue is for Jordan,

van Veen told DW

Even if we die here, even if we are buried under the rubble, leaving is not an option,

Mohammed al Sawi, a 68-year-old mechanic from Gaza City, told DW

This land is precious and dear, how could we leave that?" ... We are left to wonder when this land will have a future."

he asks, adding

King Abdullah is in an almost impossible situation, as he cannot accept more Palestinians going into Jordan for very historical and existential reasons, ... But neither can he flatly refuse a US idea, however bad it is."

he told DW, adding

The Saudis have made their position very clear, that the forced displacement of Palestinians from their land is a non-starter,

Anna Jacobs, Gulf researcher and non-resident fellow at the Washington-based think tank Arab Gulf States Institute, told DW on Monday

I think we have to remember, there is a plan from Egypt and the Arab states,

he said

I think the point is, how do we make this work in a way that is good for everyone?" ... Let’s not get ahead of ourselves."

Later, he added

There is an understanding in the Arab world that Jordan and Egypt may agree to take in a few thousand Palestinians as a humanitarian gesture,

he explained

The king ultimately made a small retreat. He came very well prepared to this meeting to avoid a direct confrontation with Trump,

Ben-Menachem said

Abdullah was repeatedly asked about Trump’s ambitious plan to reshape the Middle East but avoided making substantive remarks on it or the idea that his country could take in a large number of new refugees from Gaza,

CBS noted

This is not a complex thing to accomplish,

Trump told Abdullah in the Oval Office

I must consider the best interests of my country,

he stated, suggesting