فاس نيوز ميديا جريدة الكترونية جهوية تعنى بشؤون و أخبار جهة فاس مكناس – متجددة على مدار الساعة
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) officially adopted the Arab plan for the reconstruction of Gaza on Saturday, calling on the international community to support it, in response to Donald Trump’s proposal to control Palestinian territories and displace their inhabitants.
Foreign ministers of the 57 member states of the OIC have been meeting since Friday at the organization’s headquarters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to discuss the plan, which was approved by the Arab League on Tuesday in Cairo.
A statement issued on Saturday morning indicated that the OIC “adopted the plan (…) for the rapid rehabilitation and reconstruction of Gaza.” The organization, which represents the Islamic world, called on “the international community and international and regional financial institutions to provide the necessary support for this plan promptly.”
The plan, prepared by Egypt, aims to rebuild the Gaza Strip, which was devastated by 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas, without relocating its 2.4 million residents.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty announced earlier in the night the adoption of the Egyptian plan, “which has now become an Arab-Islamic plan,” a move confirmed by his Sudanese counterpart. Abdelatty described the decision as “very positive.”
U.S. President Donald Trump had sparked international outrage by proposing the relocation of Palestinians from Gaza to neighboring Egypt and Jordan, aiming to turn the region into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”
Arab leaders announced during a summit in Cairo on Tuesday the establishment of a fund to finance the reconstruction of Gaza and urged the international community to support it. Abdelatty said, “The next step will be to make this plan an international one by gaining approval from the European Union and international parties such as Japan, Russia, China, and others.”
He added, “This is what we are striving for, and we are in contact with all parties, including the American side.”
The Arab plan adopted by the OIC effectively sidelines Hamas and anticipates the return of the Palestinian Authority, which was ousted from Gaza in 2007 by the Palestinian Islamic movement.
However, the plan has been rejected by Israel and criticized by the United States. The U.S. State Department stated that the plan “does not meet Washington’s expectations,” while Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkof, described it as “a good-faith first step by the Egyptians.”
Rabha Seif Allam, from the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo, noted that Egypt needed “broad support” to build “a wide coalition opposing the relocation of Palestinians from Gaza.”
Omar Karem, an expert on Saudi affairs at the University of Birmingham in the UK, said that the Jeddah meeting signals “the unity of the Islamic world.”
The OIC also approved the reinstatement of Syria’s membership in the organization, after its membership was suspended in 2012 due to the Syrian regime’s crackdown on a pro-democracy uprising led by former President Bashar al-Assad, who was ousted by opposition forces on December 8 after 13 years of civil war.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry welcomed this move, describing it as “an important step towards Syria’s return to the regional and international community as a free and just state.”
