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.