Jordanian King Abdullah II has said that neither his country nor Egypt will accept Palestinian refugees, declaring it a “red line” amid the Israel–Hamas conflict, while warning that the Middle East is in danger of “falling into the abyss.”
“Thousands of innocent civilian lives have been lost—Palestinian lives, Israeli lives—these are sons, these are daughters, these are mothers, fathers, husbands, and wives,” he said. “Many more lives are at risk, and hundreds of thousands have no access to food, water, electricity, and other basic services,” adding that the ongoing siege of Gaza is “unacceptable on all levels, both legal and human.”
The king also urged the international community to “stand against all forms of violence and with its victims, no matter their identity, nationality, or religion,” before warning that the “whole region is at the brink of falling into the abyss that this new cycle of death and destruction is pushing us toward.”
“The threat that this conflict spreads is real; the costs are too high for everyone,” he said. “The cost this will bring on all of us is too much to bear. All our efforts are needed to ensure we don’t get there.”
The Jordanian king made the comments one day before Egypt agreed to open the Rafah border crossing—the only crossing in and out of the densely populated Gaza Strip that isn’t controlled by Israel—to allow for humanitarian aid to enter.
According to President Joe Biden, who on Oct. 18 spoke with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the nation’s leader agreed to allow about 20 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid to cross into the enclave, which is home to more than 2 million people who are now largely dependent on international aid.
King Calls to Protect Civilians
Thousands of Palestinians have gathered at the border in recent days in hopes of fleeing the Gaza Strip amid Israeli airstrikes.While King Abdullah during his Oct. 17 speech stressed the importance of the international community meeting its obligations to protect civilians who have been caught up in the conflict, he ruled out Jordan, which shares a border with Israel and the West Bank, from taking any refugees.
“On the issue of refugees coming to Jordan, I think I can quite strongly speak on behalf not only of Jordan as a nation but of our friends in Egypt; that is a red line because I think that is the plan by certain of the usual suspects to try and create de facto issues on the ground,” he said.
“No refugees into Jordan and no refugees in Egypt. This is a situation of humanitarian dimension that has to be dealt with inside Gaza and the West Bank and not to try and push the Palestinian challenge and their future onto other people’s shoulders.”
The Jordanian king, who called for a two-state solution to the issue of the Palestinians and Israel, also stressed the importance of world leaders looking to the future and what happens after the conflict ends.
“We cannot continue this cycle of violence every single year,” he said. “Unless there is a political horizon that brings Israelis and Palestinians together that then allows Israelis and Arabs to come together, this will continue to be a cycle of violence that none of us can afford.”
