In its March 5, 2025 front-page article, the Emirati London-based daily Al-Arab harshly criticizes the closing statement of the March 4 Arab League summit in Cairo. The summit convened to discuss a plan for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip as an alternative to the plan proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump that involves the exile of the Gazans. Headed "The Cairo Summit: A Flawed Conclusion to an Anomalous Situation in Which Everyone Is Evading Responsibility," the article states that the summit took no decisions regarding Gaza's future, the source of the funds required for its reconstruction, and the way to deal with the issue of Hamas' weapons, which this organization has defined as a "red line." It claims that the Arab states in fact deliberately refrained from explicitly mentioning Hamas and its weapons, and preferred to take a vague stance out of fear of provoking the Arab street. It warns that leaving the weapons in Hamas' hands will enable it to torpedo the Egyptian plan for the reconstruction of Gaza, and to produce a new leader who will launch another war against Israel, so that the billions invested in the Gaza Strip will be lost and the Gulf states will be required to provide new funds for reconstruction.
Al-Arab's front-page article
The following are translated excerpts from the article:[1]
"The emergency Arab Summit yielded no clear decisions regarding the future of Gaza in light of the reconstruction plan proposed by Egypt, nor about how to deal with Hamas. The summit also failed to sufficiently address the sources of funding, and no country clearly committed to paying part of the reconstruction costs. In addition, there was a notable absence of leaders from the Gulf states.
"The summit's conclusion, which offered no solution for the pending problems, is a flawed conclusion to an anomalous situation in which everyone is evading responsibility. Even the Palestinians have shrugged off their responsibility for what happened: the PA proposed half-solutions and Hamas set out red lines, as though the Al-Aqsa Flood [i.e., Hamas' October 7 attack, in which 1,200 Israelis were murdered and 251 were abducted] never happened and as though the [Gaza] Strip and its people are in excellent condition and do not need courageous decisions that will prevent the tragedy from recurring.
"This time the situation is different, and the Arab Summit cannot issue a general statement. It needs precise positions, because U.S. President Donald Trump is following its outcomes [to see] whether they comply with his demands regarding Hamas, or whether he will have to press for implementing his plan to exile [the people of Gaza]. This places the Arab stance in a doubly embarrassing position that could have been avoided if the summit had only taken a stand regarding Hamas and its weapons, and clearly specified the scope of funds that will be provided for rebuilding the Strip and the elements that would guarantee [their provision].
"The Egyptian plan, which has been approved by the Arab leaders and officials, removes Hamas as the administrator of the Strip, in compliance with one of Israel's main demands. But it refrains from explicitly mentioning the disarming of Hamas and the other factions and the dismantling of their military infrastructures. The leaders who attended [the summit] clearly preferred to take a vague position in order to avoid confronting the Arab street, and in order to maintain the image they assumed during the war. They presented themselves as being close to the street and to the resistance, and [now] they find it difficult to take decisions that contradict this image.
"Ignoring Hamas' weapons will create problems for the Egyptian plan in the future, because Hamas will be able to thwart every stage of this plan or oppose the participation of certain countries. Furthermore, the presence [of these weapons] will facilitate the emergence of a new Sinwar, who will undertake to launch a war against Israel. Consequently, the billions invested in rebuilding [the Strip] will be lost in another ostentatious war between Hamas and Israel, and several months later another plan will be proposed requiring the Gulf states to provide new funds for reconstruction. This is an issue of contention that the summit should have resolved in an explicit manner.
"In addition, leaving the weapons in Hamas' hands can lead to an internal war if the Palestinian Authority eventually assumes responsibility for the Strip, as the Egyptian plan proposes. Hamas, [for its part], has prevented any option of interpretations or unclear Arab positions when it said that its weapons are a red line that nobody must [even] approach…"
[1] Al-Arab (UAE), March 5, 2025.
