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.

I wish we died in Gaza instead.” As President Trump proposes forcibly relocating as many as 2 million Palestinians from Gaza Strip into ramshackle camps like this one, many of the some 35,000 refugees in Jerash have a message for their brethren.

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.