President Donald Trump suggested relocating Gazans to Egypt and Jordan. I am not opposed to this proposal in principal, provided Egypt and Jordan agree to take Gazans to their territories and Gazans wish to relocate.
Trump, as always, is throwing around ideas without much elaboration. What is needed is a careful plan carried out in stages and enjoying the consent and approval of the relevant countries and the Arab world at large.
How the relocation of Gazans to Egypt and Jordan would need to work
In the first instance, a certain number of Gazan refugees should be agreed upon between the US, Egypt, and Jordan. This number should be based on estimates of the number of families who have ties in Egypt and Jordan.
The underlying reasons should be family reunification and humanitarian aid. The scheme should be offered in the first instance to Gazans who have families in Egypt and Jordan and who voluntarily sign up to immigrate.
These people should apply to immigrate via the usual immigration channels in Egypt and Jordan.
Both countries should scrutinize applications carefully to ensure that the applicants are not Muslim fundamentalists who might obstruct law and order and who might join the Muslim Brotherhood and other anti-government organizations.
The last thing these countries need is a fifth column that would undermine the regimes of Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah II. Egypt and Jordan will decide what status these immigrants will enjoy, as temporary residents for x number of years with the possibility of becoming citizens in Jordan and possibly also in Egypt.
After the first stage of the scheme is complete, lessons should be deduced, and then a further immigration deadline should be offered to new applicants who wish to immigrate on similar grounds, setting another capped quota.
The entire scheme should be sponsored by the US and executed by Egypt and Jordan.
As long as the scheme is based on communication and the consent of all relevant parties, then it is legitimate. Such relocation schemes should not be based on threats and coercion.
The writer received his doctorate from the University of Oxford. He is chair in politics and founding director of the Middle East Study Centre at the University of Hull, a fellow at The Institute for Advanced Studies at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, a global fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, and president of the Association for Israel Studies (AIS).