Earlier this month, the president said he favored taking control of Gaza and displacing the Palestinian population of the devastated seaside enclave. But Egypt and Jordan flatly rejected cooperating.

For decades, American officials described the rulers of Egypt and Jordan as linchpins of regional stability. They made peace with Israel (in 1979 and 1994, respectively). They mostly avoided wars, coups and revolutions.

Egypt is developing a plan to rebuild Gaza without forcing Palestinians out of the strip in a counter to President Donald Trump’s proposal to depopulate the territory so the U.S. can take it over