MADRID, Feb 19, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and 
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday rejected a controversial 
proposal by US President Donald Trump to displace Palestinians from the war-
devastated Gaza Strip.

The Arab League is scheduled to hold an extraordinary meeting in Cairo on 
March 4 in response to Trump's plan to take over Gaza and permanently move 
its Palestinian inhabitants elsewhere, including to Egypt and Jordan, and 
then redevelop the coastal territory into the "Riviera of the Middle East".

Speaking in Madrid ahead of the gathering, Sisi called for the "international 
community's support and adoption of a plan to rebuild the Gaza Strip without 
displacing the Palestinian people -- I repeat, without displacing the 
Palestinian people -- from their land, which they cling to, and their 
homeland, which they do not agree to relinquish".

Sanchez, one of the staunchest defenders of the Palestinian cause within the 
European Union, agreed, saying "Gaza belongs to the Palestinians and is part 
of the future Palestinian state".

"Their expulsion would not only be immoral and contrary to international law 
and United Nations resolutions, but would also have a destabilising effect," 
the Socialist premier added.

The two leaders also signed a declaration upgrading Egypt-Spain relations to 
a "strategic partnership", as well as several memorandums of understanding in 
various fields including illegal migration and defence.

Trump's plan sparked an outcry from Arab governments as well as from world 
leaders, and the United Nations warned against "ethnic cleansing" in the 
Palestinian territory.