RIYADH: Arab leaders were gathering in Saudi Arabia on Friday to hammer out a recovery plan for Gaza aimed at countering President Donald Trump's proposal for US control of the territory and the expulsion of its people.
Trump's plan has united Arab states in opposition to it, but disagreements remain over who should govern the war-ravaged Palestinian territory and how to fund its reconstruction.
"We're at a very important historic juncture in the Arab-Israeli or Israeli-Palestinian conflict... where potentially the United States under Trump could create new facts on the ground that are irreversible," Andreas Krieg, a King's College London expert said.
Trump triggered global outrage when he proposed the United States "take over the Gaza Strip" and relocate its more than two million residents to Egypt and Jordan.
A source close to the Saudi government told AFP that Arab leaders would discuss "a reconstruction plan to counter Trump's plan for Gaza".
The Gaza Strip is largely in ruins after more than 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas, with the United Nations recently estimating that rebuilding would cost more than $53 billion.
During a meeting with Trump in Washington on February 11, Jordan's King Abdullah II said Egypt would present a plan for a way forward.
Egyptian plan
The Saudi source said the delegates would discuss "a version of the Egyptian plan".
The official Saudi Press Agency, citing an official, confirmed on Thursday that Egypt and Jordan were participating in the Riyadh summit along with the six country members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
It also said decisions issued by the "unofficial fraternal meeting" would appear on the agenda of an emergency Arab League summit to be held in Egypt on March 4.
An Arab diplomat told AFP the meeting was supposed to start at 3 pm (1200 GMT).
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi arrived in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, his office said.
The Qatari emir's office also confirmed the country's ruler Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani would attend the Friday talks.
Previously, a Saudi source told AFP the Palestinian Authority would also take part in the talks.
Rebuilding Gaza will be a key issue after Trump pointed to the need for reconstruction as a justification for relocating its population.
Cairo has yet to announce its initiative, but former Egyptian diplomat Mohamed Hegazy outlined a plan "in three technical phases over a period of three to five years".
Financing
The first phase, lasting six months, would focus on "early recovery" and the removal of debris, he said.
The second would require an international conference to provide details of reconstruction and focus on rebuilding utilities infrastructure.
And the final phase, Hegazy said, would entail urban planning, the reconstruction of housing, provision of services and the establishment of a "political track to implement the two-state solution".
An Arab diplomat familiar with Gulf affairs told AFP: "The biggest challenge facing the Egyptian plan is how to finance it."
The Saudi source said an agreement should be reached between Arab leaders.
"It would be inconceivable for Arab leaders to meet without reaching a common vision, but the main thing lies in the content of this vision and the ability to implement it," the Arab diplomat added.
Krieg said it was a "unique opportunity" for the "Saudis to rally all the other GCC countries, plus Egypt and Jordan, around on this matter, to find a common position to answer to what is a kind of very coercive statement that Trump has been making".
