In the bustling heart of Cairo, coffee shops teem with Gazans who managed to flee at the start of Israel’s devastating war on Hamas. Although they have found safety, they remain worried about loved ones back home.
In the past few days here, Egyptian intelligence officials have been meeting Hamas leaders to shore up the shaky ceasefire. Tens of millions of Egyptians – tuning into the constant news updates – already feel their country’s intimate involvement in the war in Gaza.
But now – with President Trump’s surprise post-war vision, which proposes displacing two million Palestinians to “a parcel of land” in Egypt and Jordan, so that the US can take over the territory – they fear an existential threat.
Egyptians flocking to Friday prayers say Trump’s idea needs a reality check.
“We’d be moving the battlefront from their land into our own!” says Abdo, a civil engineer. “The Israeli army and the Palestinian resistance are eternal enemies and there is no peace between them. This would mean us giving Israel a pretext to attack them on our land in the name of self-defence.”
Others stress how the idea of permanently displacing Gazans would be tantamount to the liquidation of the Palestinian quest for statehood. But, they say, it would also breed extremism and cause instability in Egypt.
To try to convey a similar message, Egypt’s President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has launched a behind-the-scenes diplomatic blitz. He is facing one of the most challenging moments of his rule, which could reset relations with his country’s key Western ally.
Egypt is dangling the threat to its peace treaty with neighbouring Israel – long seen as a cornerstone of stability and US influence in the Middle East.
Since Washington brokered the breakthrough 1979 deal, it has seen Cairo as a close ally. Egypt has consistently been one of the biggest recipients of US military aid, agreed as part of the treaty. Last year, it was allocated $1.3bn in military assistance.
However, on Egypt’s influential night-time talk shows, commentators have been voicing strong criticism. American military aid “does not constitute any value to Egypt,” Ahmed Mousa, a popular host on a private TV channel, recently said. He insisted Egyptians refuse “pressure” or “blackmail”.
Egypt’s leader is choosing a different approach to Jordan’s King Abdullah II, who recently met Trump at the White House. There, Abdullah adopted a placatory tone and promised to take in sick Gazan children, while not giving ground on the idea of resettlement for Gazans.
Egyptian reports say that Sisi refuses to visit Washington while displacement is on the agenda, although the US maintains no trip has been scheduled.
Egypt’s own economy has been hard-hit by the Gaza war; it says it has lost $8bn in Suez Canal revenues due to attacks by Yemen’s Houthis on ships in the Red Sea which began in response to Israel’s Gaza offensive.
The hope now is that by devising its own “masterplan” for Gaza reconstruction, Egypt can both avoid the hugely problematic mass displacement of Palestinians and boost its own economy.
The Egyptian real estate tycoon, Hisham Talaat Moustafa – who is close to Sisi – has been on TV, pushing a $20bn (£16bn; 19bn euros) proposal for building 200,000 homes in Gaza in just three years, without Palestinians being moved away.
The plan is feasible, says Professor Mustafa Kamel al-Sayyid of Cairo University: “I don’t think it will be impossible for the Egyptians to find safe areas for Palestinians to move there while their part of Gaza is being rebuilt.”
Various “innovative ideas” are being put forward, he adds, including one for rubble to be used as a building material in reconstruction.
Speaking ahead of a Middle East trip, the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio acknowledged that Arab states “don’t like” the Trump Gaza plan. “Now, if someone has a better plan – and we hope they do,” he went on, “now’s the time to present it.”
Some Arab leaders are due to meet soon in Saudi Arabia, with Egypt calling for an Arab summit to discuss an alternative “comprehensive vision” for Gaza in Cairo on 27 February.
Proposals are believed to involve a Gulf-led fund to help foot the hefty bill for reconstruction, and a deal to sideline Hamas. Israel and the US have made clear that the Palestinian armed group which has governed in Gaza since 2007 must have no future role.
Egypt’s idea involves training a new security force and identifying Palestinian technocrats – not affiliated to any political faction – who would be in charge of early recovery projects.
However, coming up with a deal that satisfies Israel’s hardline government will be challenging.
The former US Secretary of State Antony Blinken envisaged world powers and the UN playing a temporary role in Gaza, until the Palestinian Authority (PA), which governs parts of the occupied West Bank, could take charge. But the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, sought to block the PA’s involvement, as part of his opposition to Palestinian statehood.
Egypt, along with other Arab states, remains committed to the long-time international formula for peace, the two-state solution which conceives an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. Its foreign ministry has stated that it wants to work with President Trump to “achieve a comprehensive and just peace in the region by reaching a just settlement of the Palestinian cause.”
Back outside the mosque in Cairo, worshippers quietly point out how their country must try to avoid troubling repetitions of history.
Already Egypt says it hosts more than 100,000 Gazans. With the idea of taking in many more, some worry their country could become a base for Hamas – an ideological offshoot of the country’s own banned Muslim Brotherhood – which, they argue, could be reinforced, stirring up domestic turmoil.
Ultimately there is strong support for Egypt taking a strong position and standing up to the US.
“Life is getting more difficult for us with the number of refugees we’ve already got. Imagine if we take in more!” exclaimed a shop owner, who did not want to give his name.
“The Palestinians need to live on their own land not ours. We don’t need anything from the USA.
“I stand by Sisi and the government and we’re ready to face the full consequences.”
