CNN: Biden snubbed by Middle East allies as Arab world seethes over Gaza hospital blast

Egyptian newspapers have denounced the idea of Palestinians being expelled from their homes, saying it would be a repeat of the 1948 Nakba, or “catastrophe,” when roughly 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that led to Israel’s creation. Most Gazans are already refugees whose ancestors came from areas that are now part of Israel.

In a news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi spoke out against the prospect of moving Palestinians to the Sinai in charged words, saying that Israel, not Egypt, should take in the refugees.

“If there is an idea of expulsion (of Gazans), then there is the Naqab (Negev) desert in Israel, where Palestinians can be moved until Israel finishes its announced operation to liquidate the resistance or the armed groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the strip,” Sisi said.

He warned that the presence of Gazans in the Sinai could turn the peninsula into a base for anti-Israel militancy that would prompt Israel to strike Egypt.

Timothy Kaldas, deputy director of the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy in Washington, DC, said no Arab leader wants to be seen as facilitating the emptying out of Gaza.

Sisi is “working very hard to create some distance between himself and his Western partners on this issue, to insulate himself from what could become a lot of public criticism and anger,” he said.

Sisi’s comments came a day after his foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that just as Europe and the US are “sensitive” about the idea of refugee influx, so is Egypt.

“Why should Egypt be presumed to allow the influx of 1 or 2 million people?” Shoukry told CNN Tuesday, adding that the country already hosts nine million refugees. He said he didn’t understand the purpose of the transfer of Palestinians, adding that it could be “intentional.”

Kaldas said Western governments that have fraternized with Arab autocrats have often seen their ability to disregard public opinion as a benefit. That may not be true, he added, especially now.

“The reality is that even autocracies have populations with opinions and passions and breaking points,” Kaldas said. “And this is certainly something that has infuriated everybody in Egypt pretty much.” CNN