OAN’s Stephanie Stahl
12:13 PM – Tuesday, October 17, 2023
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, located in the Middle East, has announced that it is currently not accepting Palestinian refugees into the country.
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On Tuesday, King Abdullah II of Jordan publicly rejected the idea to admit Palestinian refugees from northern Gaza into either Jordan or Egypt after a meeting with German Chancellor OIaf Scholz in Berlin.
“There will be no refugees in Jordan and no refugees in Egypt,” the king declared.
He referred to this as a “red line”, emphasizing that the humanitarian crisis must be contained within Gaza and the West Bank.
Abdullah’s announcement comes in response to Israel’s calls for more than 1.1 million Gazans to head south toward the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.
In response to the potential arrival of hundreds of thousands of refugees, Egypt has been reluctant to open its borders, even for foreigners and Palestinians with dual nationality.
Egypt’s stance is contingent on the condition that humanitarian aid is allowed to enter Gaza.
As part of global diplomatic initiatives aimed at alleviating the suffering of those trapped in Gaza, a bipartisan delegation of U.S. Congress members have urged Egypt to create and uphold safe zones in the southern region, which is home to over 2 million people.
Hamas has urged the Gaza residents to remain in place. However, it is anticipated that the Israeli Defense Forces will initiate extensive ground operations, causing civilians to flee southward towards neighboring Jordan or Egypt.
On Wednesday, Jordan is set to convene a four-party summit in Amman, with President Biden and leaders from Egypt and Palestine. The primary agenda of the summit is to address the “dangerous” consequences of the war in Gaza on the regional landscape.
The conversations will center on strategies to bring about an end to the ongoing hostilities in Gaza and explore avenues for “reviving” the peace process, according to an official statement.
Additionally, King Abdullah will conduct a separate summit with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
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