Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia reject US request to send peacekeepers to Gaza

Jordan, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia have rebuffed US requests to contribute troops to a post-war peacekeeping force in Gaza, an Arab official and a second source familiar with the matter tells The Times of Israel, the newspaper reports.

The dispatched troops would be seen to be “protecting Israel from the Palestinians,” the Arab official says, explaining the opposition of Amman, Doha, and Riyadh to the effort being advanced by the US to secure Gaza after the war.

Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, on the other hand, have expressed willingness to participate in the effort, three officials had told The Times of Israel in June. However, they clarified that Cairo and Abu Dhabi have a series of conditions, including that the peacekeeping force be part of an initiative leading to an eventual two-state solution—a framework rejected by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.