No progress for Gaza and Palestine: Failure of the Cairo summit
BY: Hana Saada
ALGIERS- The Cairo summit for peace in Gaza ended in a mess. The officials and representatives of Western countries and Arab countries present in Cairo separated without agreeing on a joint statement, relating in particular to an end to the violence, as hoped by Egypt which was at the origin of this initiative.
According to certain diplomatic sources, this failure is due to the refusal by Western countries of the request for a ceasefire, the permanent opening of the Rafah border post, the condemnation of the Zionist occupier for the massacres committed on the Palestinian civilians. The two parties also differed on the condemnation of the Hamas offensive of October 7.
Egypt, however, hoped that the participants would reach an agreement to end the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip and to lead to peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
Rejection of Al-Sissi’s roadmap
However, Abdelfattah Al-Sisi proposed a road map that includes the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, a ceasefire agreement and negotiations leading to a two-state solution, with the creation of a Palestinian state within the borders of 1967, with Al Quds East as its capital, following the Arab peace plan of 2002. This summit, which was held in the presence of the Prime Minister of Italy and the foreign ministers of the France and Germany, allowed Egyptian President Al-Sissi and King Abdullah II of Jordan to insist on the defense of their national sovereignty.
The two Arab heads of state notably expressed their rejection of pressure from Western countries to accept the plans to move the Gazawi populations to the Sinai, and from the West Bank to Jordan and their refusal to liquidate the Palestinian cause, as said the Egyptian president.
In the absence of a high American and Zionist representative, King Abdullah of Jordan
denounced the global silence on the fate of the 2.3 million inhabitants of Gaza, and declared that the forced internal displacement of Palestinians would be a war crime. And in a twist, the Emir of Qatar left the Cairo summit without pronouncing of speeches, and this, at the time when the general secretary of the Arab League was giving his speech.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas highlighted the extremely difficult and cruel circumstances experienced by the Palestinian people, insisting on the implementation of a two-state solution based on international legitimacy, adding that the Palestinians would not be displaced or expelled from their land. “We will not leave, we will not leave, we will stay on our land!” “, he insisted during this summit.
For their part, Western countries, led by the United States, have expressed their support for the Zionist entity since October 7. Britain and Germany called on the Zionist army to show restraint and Italy stressed the importance of avoiding any escalation of the conflict.
No progress from the summit
That said, this summit did not record any progress in the search for peace. The Arab side, however, proposed a second Arab peace initiative, in the words of the representative and head of the Al-Quds Commission who called for the launch of a “genuine peace process that leads to a two-state solution. Including a Palestinian state on the borders of June 1967 with Al Quds East as its capital, to live side by side with the Zionist entity.”
A vain offer of peace, considering the response of the Zionist aggressor, who intensified the bombings, increasing the number of victims to 4,385 dead and the number of forcibly displaced people approaching 700,000 Palestinians and raising the threat of a ground intervention in the Gaza Strip. “Temple Group” settlers also call for mass storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque
to “perform rituals and supplications” for Zionist occupation soldiers during the Battle of Al-Aqsa.
