RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Feb 17, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - A planned Saudi meeting of 
Arab leaders in response to US President Donald Trump's plan to take control 
of Gaza has been postponed by a day and expanded, Arab diplomats said on 
Monday.

"The mini Arab summit in Riyadh has been postponed from Thursday to Friday, 
February 21," a Saudi source told AFP. An Arab diplomatic source confirmed 
the new date.

Three Arab states had been expected to attend the summit, but the Saudi 
source said the expanded meeting will "include the leaders of the six Gulf 
Cooperation Council countries along with Egypt and Jordan to discuss Arab 
alternatives to Trump's plans in the Gaza Strip".

The member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council are the United Arab 
Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait.

The Saudi source said that "an influential Gulf country expressed its 
dissatisfaction at being excluded from the Riyadh summit, which prompted the 
organisers to include all the Gulf countries", without specifying which 
country was involved.

Trump had proposed taking over the war-batted Gaza Strip and moving its more 
than two million residents to Jordan or Egypt -- a plan experts say would 
violate international law.

Arab countries have unanimously rejected the idea or any prospect of 
displacing Palestinians from their lands.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday that Washington was open 
to proposals from Arab countries concerning the Palestinian territory, where 
a fragile ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war came into effect on 19 January 
after more than 15 months of fighting.

Rubio said he hoped to be able to discuss these ideas during a tour that took 
him to Israel on Sunday, Saudi Arabia on Monday, and on to the United Arab 
Emirates.

On Tuesday Jordan's King Abdullah II met with Trump at the White House and 
"reiterated Jordan's steadfast position against the displacement of 
Palestinians", according to a statement issued later, saying this was "the 
unified Arab position".

Trump doubled down on his plan during the meeting.