WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Marco Rubio will begin a diplomatic tour Saturday through the Middle East, where he is likely to encounter strong Arab pushback to the Trump administration’s proposal to take over the Gaza Strip and permanently relocate its residents.
Rubio is scheduled to visit Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates over four days in his first trip to the region as America’s top diplomat. The State Department said his three-country swing “will center on freeing American and all other hostages from Hamas captivity, advancing to Phase II of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, and countering the destabilizing activities of the Iranian regime and its proxies.”
Rubio will arrive in the region less than two weeks after President Donald Trump unveiled his post-war proposal for Palestinians to be relocated to neighboring countries Jordan and Egypt and for the United States to redevelop the devastated territory into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”
“No, they wouldn’t,” Trump said in a Fox News interview Monday when asked if Palestinians would have the right to return to Gaza under his plan.
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