Qatar and seven countries reject Israeli proposals to displace Palestinians from Gaza

# What happened

Qatar joined seven other countries on Sept. 6, 2026 in issuing a joint diplomatic statement rejecting proposals by two Israeli government ministers to move Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip.

The participating countries were Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt, Türkiye and Qatar. Their foreign ministries described the proposals as a "flagrant violation" of international law and warned that attempts to displace Palestinians would risk wider regional instability.

# The Israeli proposals cited

The foreign ministers rejected both forced displacement and efforts to push Palestinians to leave the occupied Palestinian territory, whether called voluntary or not. The statement noted that such approaches would undermine international efforts to end Israel's war on Gaza and pointed out that US President Donald Trump's current plan also rejects forced displacement.

# Legal and political arguments in the statement

The eight countries framed their rejection in legal and territorial terms:

• They called Gaza an integral part of the occupied Palestinian territory and said proposals to move Palestinians would challenge the territory's unity with the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
• They characterized the displacement proposals as violations of international law and a direct threat to the rights of the Palestinian people.
• They urged the UN Security Council and the broader international community to oppose any attempt to impose a new demographic or geographic reality on the occupied Palestinian territory.

# Policy position and next steps urged by the ministers

The foreign ministers reaffirmed support for an independent Palestinian state based on the June 4, 1967 lines, with East Jerusalem as its capital. They called for measures to preserve the territorial unity of Gaza and the West Bank and to prevent changes to the current demographic or geographic status on the ground.

They asked international bodies, led by the UN Security Council, to actively resist attempts to displace Palestinians or to alter the occupied Palestinian territory's borders or population makeup.

# Why this matters

The joint statement brings together a mix of Arab and Muslim states to present a coordinated diplomatic response to Israeli ministers' displacement proposals. The message is legal, territorial and political: the countries aim to prevent any engineered change to Gaza's population or to the territorial relationship between Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

For readers tracking the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the statement signals coordinated regional pushback to proposals that would redistribute civilian populations and shape future negotiating leverage.

# Bottom line

Qatar and seven partner countries publicly rejected Israeli displacement proposals as unlawful and destabilizing, called on the UN and international community to oppose such moves, and reiterated support for a Palestinian state along 1967 lines with East Jerusalem as capital.