(Article republished from MiddleEastEye.net)
During their meeting, Trump pushed the king to accept his plan to displace Palestinians from Gaza into Jordan, leaving Abdullah struggling to find an appropriate response.
In the lead-up to the meeting, Trump threatened to cut aid to Jordan and Egypt should they reject his plan. Egypt has since repeated its refusal and stressed the importance of ending the war and rebuilding Gaza without displacement, while President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi reportedly postponed a visit to the White House to avoid discussing Trump’s proposal.
King Abdullah, on the other hand, seemed to signal his openness to the idea by asserting that he would do what’s best for his country - an apparent deviation from the long-standing official Jordanian position of rejecting the displacement of Palestinians from their homeland.
The king himself, along with his foreign minister and the White House press secretary, all later reiterated Jordan’s official position of rejecting any displacement plans.
These desperate attempts to clarify Jordan’s position, despite Trump’s bullying rhetoric, highlight the importance of Jordan for US power and influence in the region.
Although Trump had already backtracked on his ultimatums against Jordan and Egypt, his video praising the king should be seen as an intervention of the US bureaucracy, as Trump’s words have clearly become a liability for the American empire.
Severe backlash
While the US could attempt to unilaterally force Jordan and Egypt to accept the Gaza displacement plan, the backlash against American interests in the region would be severe.
Both regimes are vital to US hegemony in the region, especially in relation to Israel. Agreeing to a large-scale displacement of Palestinians would undermine the Egyptian and Jordanian regimes, both morally and politically.
Read more at: MiddleEastEye.net
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