The King of Jordan, Abdullah II says countries will reject any plan that requires them to “enforce” peace in Gaza under the proposed ceasefire framework backed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with BBC Panorama, the King said the distinction between peacekeeping and peace enforcement would determine whether nations would be willing to participate.
Under Trump’s 20-point peace plan, Arab states and international partners would deploy stabilisation forces to Gaza to train and support Palestinian police, while Hamas would be required to disarm and relinquish political control of the territory.
“What is the mandate of security forces inside Gaza? And we hope that it is peacekeeping, because if it’s peace enforcing, nobody will want to touch that,” King Abdullah said.
He stressed that Jordan and Egypt were prepared to help train Palestinian security forces but would not assume a combat role.
“Peacekeeping is supporting the local police force, the Palestinians, which Jordan and Egypt are willing to train in large numbers — but that takes time,” he said. “If we’re running around Gaza on patrol with weapons, that’s not a situation that any country would like to get involved in.”
King Abdullah also noted that his country would not send troops into Gaza because of Jordan’s deep political and demographic ties to the Palestinian cause. More than half of Jordan’s population is of Palestinian descent, and the country has hosted about 2.3 million Palestinian refugees from previous conflicts with Israel — the largest number in the region.
