Jordan King Abdullah II visits Trump at White House (Source: Reuters)

US President Donald Trump’s February 6 proposal for the Gaza Strip shook the world, causing an earthquake in the international community. And the aftershocks continue to be felt.

Whether his proposals for relocating Palestinians and turning Gaza into a “Riviera” of the Middle East are realistic is almost beside the point. But Trump’s statements have once again highlighted the hypocrisy and triple standards applied to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Many voices insist that Palestinians must not be displaced or offered voluntary and even temporary departure  — and are using terms like “forced displacement” and “ethnic cleansing.” Yet, much of this concern for the plight of Palestinians has very little to do with Palestinians, and everything to do with Israel.

During the Syrian civil war, approximately 6.5 million refugees were forced to flee Syria. About 5.5 million of those went to Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt, while another 85,0000 went to Germany. These refugees were managed by the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) — the United Nations agency responsible for all the world’s refugees, except for Palestinians, who fall under the separate UNRWA agency, the only “refugee” group to receive that distinction.

These refugees fled Syria in the midst of a brutal civil war, and there were certainly no widespread accusations that this exodus must be prevented to stop “ethnic cleansing.” Rather, the exodus was understood as a natural human response to war.

Similarly, in February 2022, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, around 6.8 million Ukrainians were also forced to flee their country. European countries predominantly gave them safe refuge, with Germany and Poland being the main providers of asylum, along with the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, and Spain. Once again, this was understood as necessary from a humanitarian viewpoint, and once again, the organization that looked after them was the UNHCR.

When it comes to Palestinians, however, any suggestion that they should be allowed to leave Gaza — a conflict zone which has been absolutely devastated by 16 months of war (started by the Palestinian leaders of Gaza) — is met with outrage and accusations of ethnic cleansing.

Jordan, where the population is predominantly Palestinian, says that it will not budge in its opposition to US President Donald Trump’s proposal of relocating Palestinians in Gaza to other countries, including Jordan and Egypt. Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told Al Jazeera the Palestinians cannot be transferred to Egypt, Jordan, or any Arab state. He talked about the Palestinian “right for freedom” — just not the kind of freedom that allows them to actually leave an active war zone.

This makes sense, since the Arab community has refused to take in or help the Palestinians since 1948 (including when Jordan had control over areas like the West Bank).

Egypt has also refused to allow the Palestinians to leave, despite having an actual border with Gaza, and ample space where it could easily accommodate them.

Europe has also rejected the idea of relocating the Palestinians, even temporarily, during the conflict. The contrast appears staggering: Syrians and Ukrainians are embraced, while Palestinians are denied the same considerations.

What is the difference? Israel is involved, and when it comes to Israel, the rules change. Triple standards come into force — one rule for dictatorial states, one rule for democracies, and an entirely separate category for Israel.

Arab states frequently talk about the rights and freedoms of Palestinians, but their actions promote the complete opposite. They have the means to help needy Palestinians, but they simply refuse to. Instead, since 1948 and before, they have preferred to continually use the Palestinians as a political pawn to attack Israel’s legitimacy, keeping them in often squalid conditions in refugee camps in Lebanon and Syria, with few rights.

It is simply mind-boggling that more than 20 Arab states with vast resources, encompassing nearly 10% of the world’s total land area, cannot offer refugee status to their fellow Arab Palestinians. Yet the one and only tiny Jewish state is prepared to absorb all Jews worldwide.

This blatant hypocrisy and refusal to help their fellow Arabs should be rejected and condemned by all fair-minded countries. President Trump offered something different. It’s not fully fleshed out, and elements of it will have to change — his suggestion that Palestinians might be moved involuntarily must be a non-starter.

However, perhaps Trump’s plan offers ideas for a way out of this never-ending conflict. Maybe it could even offer hope for a population indoctrinated and historically used as a political tool by their fellow Arabs and the international community. But true to form, the international community seems to be demonstrating that it cares more about vilifying Israel than actually helping Palestinians.

Justin Amler is a policy analyst at the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC).