CAIRO (AP) \u2014 As desperate Palestinians in sealed-off Gaza try to find refuge under Israel\u2019s relentless bombardment in retaliation for Hamas\u2019\u00a0brutal Oct. 7 attack, some ask why neighboring Egypt and Jordan don\u2019t take them in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The two countries, which flank Israel on opposite sides and share borders with Gaza and the occupied West Bank, respectively, have replied with a staunch refusal. Jordan already has a large Palestinian population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi made his toughest remarks yet on Wednesday, saying the current war was not just aimed at fighting Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, \u201cbut also an attempt to push the civilian inhabitants to … migrate to Egypt.\u201d He warned this could wreck peace in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jordan\u2019s King Abdullah II gave a similar message a day earlier, saying, \u201cNo refugees in Jordan, no refugees in Egypt.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Their refusal is rooted in fear that Israel wants to force a permanent expulsion of Palestinians into their countries and nullify Palestinian demands for statehood. El-Sissi also said a mass exodus would risk bringing militants into Egypt\u2019s Sinai Peninsula, from where they might launch attacks on Israel, endangering the two countries\u2019 40-year-old peace treaty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here is a look at what is motivating Egypt\u2019s and Jordan\u2019s stances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Displacement has been a major theme of Palestinian history. In the 1948 war around Israel\u2019s creation, an estimated 700,000 Palestinians were expelled or fled from what is now Israel. Palestinians refer to the event as the Nakba, Arabic for \u201ccatastrophe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the\u00a01967 Mideast war, when Israel seized the West Bank and Gaza Strip, 300,000 more Palestinians fled, mostly into Jordan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The refugees and their descendants now number nearly 6 million, most living in camps and communities in the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. The diaspora has spread further, with many refugees building lives in Gulf Arab countries or the West.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After fighting stopped in the 1948 war, Israel refused to allow refugees to return to their homes. Since then, Israel has rejected Palestinian demands for a return of refugees as part of a peace deal, arguing that it would threaten the country\u2019s Jewish majority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Egypt fears history will repeat itself and a large Palestinian refugee population from Gaza will end up staying for good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s in part because there\u2019s no clear scenario for how this war will end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Israel says it intends to destroy Hamas for its bloody rampage in its southern towns. But it has given no indication of what might happen afterward and who would govern Gaza. That has raised concerns that it will reoccupy the territory for a period, fueling further conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Israeli military said Palestinians who followed its order to flee northern Gaza to the strip\u2019s southern half would be allowed back to their homes after the war ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Egypt is not reassured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
El-Sissi said fighting could last for years if Israel argues it hasn\u2019t sufficiently crushed militants. He proposed that Israel house Palestinians in its Negev Desert, which neighbors the Gaza Strip, until it ends its military operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIsrael\u2019s lack of clarity regarding its intentions in Gaza and the evacuation of the population is in itself problematic,\u201d said Riccardo Fabiani, Crisis Group International\u2019s North Africa Project Director. \u201cThis confusion fuels fears in the neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Egypt has pushed for Israel to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, and\u00a0Israel said Wednesday\u00a0that it would, though it didn\u2019t say when. According to United Nations, Egypt, which is dealing with a spiraling economic crisis, already hosts some 9 million refugees and migrants, including roughly 300,000 Sudanese who arrived this year after\u00a0fleeing their country\u2019s war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Arab countries and many Palestinians also suspect Israel might use this opportunity to force permanent demographic changes to wreck Palestinian demands for statehood in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem, which was also captured by Israel in 1967.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
El-Sissi repeated warnings Wednesday that an exodus from Gaza was intended to \u201celiminate the Palestinian cause \u2026 the most important cause of our region.\u201d He argued that if a demilitarized Palestinian state had been created long ago in negotiations, there would not be war now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAll historical precedent points to the fact that when Palestinians are forced to leave Palestinian territory, they are not allowed to return back,\u201d said H.A. Hellyer, a senior associate fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. \u201cEgypt doesn\u2019t want to be complicit in ethnic cleansing in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Arab countries\u2019 fears have only been stoked by the rise under Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of hard-right parties that talk in positive terms about removing Palestinians. Since the Hamas attack, the rhetoric has become less restrained, with some right-wing politicians and media commentators calling for the military to raze Gaza and drive out its inhabitants. One lawmaker said Israel should carry out a \u201cnew Nakba\u201d on Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the same time, Egypt says a mass exodus from Gaza would bring Hamas or other Palestinian militants onto its soil. That might be destabilizing in Sinai, where Egypt\u2019s military fought for years against Islamic militants and at one point accused Hamas of backing them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Egypt has backed Israel\u2019s blockade of Gaza since Hamas took over in the territory in 2007, tightly controlling the entry of materials and the passage of civilians back and forth. It also destroyed the network of tunnels under the border that Hamas and other Palestinians used to smuggle goods into Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the Sinai insurgency largely put down, \u201cCairo does not want to have a new security problem on its hands in this problematic region,\u201d Fabiani said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
El-Sissi warned of an even more destabilizing scenario: the wrecking of Egypt and Israel\u2019s 1979 peace deal. He said that with the presence of Palestinian militants, Sinai \u201cwould become a base for attacks on Israel. Israel would have the right to defend itself … and would strike Egyptian territory.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe peace which we have achieved would vanish from our hands,\u201d he said, \u201call for the sake of the idea of eliminating the Palestinian cause.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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