Trump faces showdown with Jordan over Gaza plan

Donald Trump is expected to face severe resistance from the King of Jordan Abdullah at the White House today, in his first meeting since the US President suggested transferring the residents of Gaza to Jordan.

Jordan, a major American ally, was steering a rope between its military and diplomatic relations, and the popular support of the Palestinians at home.

These rift lines, which were already tested by the Gaza war, are pushed to the point of collapse due to Trump’s plans for Gaza’s peace.

He expanded based on his demands to transfer Ghazan to Jordan and Egypt, and told Fox News broadcaster that they will not have the right to return to their homes – a vision, if implemented, will contradict international law.

On Monday, he said that he could block assistance to Jordan and Egypt if they did not take the Palestinian refugees.

Some of those who mean opponents of the transfer of Ghazan to Jordan are Ghazan, who have moved here before.

About 45,000 people live in the Gaza camp, near the northern town of Gerash in Jordan, one of the many Palestinian refugee camps here.

Corrowed iron sheets hanging on the narrow entrances store, children exfoliate on donkeys between market stalls.

All families here track their roots to Gaza: to Gabalia, Rafa, Beit Hannon. Most of them left after the 1967 Arab Israeli war, in search of temporary shelter. After generations, they are still here.

“Donald Trump is an arrogant narcissist,” says Maher Azazi, 60, says. “It has a Middle Ages, the merchant’s mentality.”

Maher Gabalia left as a young child. Some of his family are still there, and now they choose the ruins of their house for the bodies of 18 missing relatives.

Despite the destruction there, Mr. Azazi says that today has learned the lessons of previous generations, most of them “prefer to jump into the sea rather than leave.”

Those who saw once leaving as a temporary offer of shelter, now they see that he is helping right -wing nationalists in Israel on the Palestinian territories.

“We have passed this before,” says Youssef, who was born in the camp. “At that time, they told us that it will be temporary, and we will return to our home. The right to return is a red line.”

“When he left our ancestors, they had no weapons to fight, like Hamas now,” another man told me. “Now the younger generation is aware of what happened with our ancestors, and this will never happen again. There is now resistance.”

The Palestinians are not the only ones to resort to Jordan – a small great power of stability surrounded by many conflicts in the Middle East.

The Iraqis arrived here, and they fled the war in the early first decade of the twentieth century. After a decade, the Syrians also came, prompting the King of Jordan to warn that his country was in the “boiling point”.

Many indigenous Jordan blames the waves of refugees for high unemployment and poverty at home. A food bank from the mosque in the Central Amman told us that it delivers 1,000 meals a day.

Waiting for work outside the mosque, we met with Abdullah and his friend Hassan – both day the workers who have not worked for months.

“The situation in Jordan was great, but when there was a war in Iraq, things were getting worse, when there was a war in Syria, it became worse, and now there is a war in Gaza, getting worse,” Hassan, “said. We have become worse, because we are a country that helps and takes people. “

Imad was upset, worried about feeding his four children.

He told me: “Foreigners come and take our jobs.” “Now I am four months without a job. I have no money, no food. If a gas comes, we will die.”

But Jordan is also under pressure from its main military ally. Trump has already suspended US aid worth more than $ 1.5 billion a year. Many here are due to a growing confrontation between the new American president and their political leaders, who are retreating.

Jawad Anani, the former deputy prime minister near the Jordanian government, says that King Abdullah’s message to Donald Trump in the White House will be clear: “We consider any attempt by Israel or others to expel people from their homes in Gaza and the West Bank as a criminal act.

Even if Gazan wanted to move voluntarily, on a temporary basis, as part of the broader Middle East plan, confidence did not exist.

“There is no confidence,” he said. “As long as Netanyahu is involved, he and his government, there is no confidence in any promises of anyone.”

Trump’s design may end up pushing his vision to Gaza to push our main ally to a decisive selection.

Last Friday, thousands protested here against Trump’s proposal.

Jordan is a home to the American military bases, millions of refugees, and its security cooperation is crucial for Israel, concern about the smuggling of roads to the occupied West Bank.

Any risks to Jordan’s stability means the risks of its allies as well. If stability is the superpower in Jordan, the threat of turmoil is its largest weapon and its best defense.

Additional reports: Mohamed Madi, BBC News