Calls for a truce between him Israel and Hamas to allow aid to enter Gaza Strip were made on Saturday at the “Peace Summit” held in Cairo, Egypt, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres calling for immediate action to end “the nightmare”.
In addition to joint calls for humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip, on which Israel has imposed a complete blockade, the representatives of Western and Arab countries they failed to agree on a final communiquéas diplomats told AFP.
The talks ran into two points, according to them: On the one hand “Western countries were asking for a clear condemnation of Hamas”whose October 7 attack on Israel triggered the outbreak of war.
On the other called for an “appeal for the release of the hostages”of the approximately 200 people kidnapped by the Palestinian organization during its attack.
The Arab countries refused to include these points in the final announcement and the session ended with a statement from the Egyptian presidency, in which Cairo denounced “the international scene which in these past decades has demonstrated its inability to find a just and sustainable solution to the Palestinian issue.”
“Let’s act now”
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs characterized “sad that, even in the face of these atrocities, some find it difficult to condemn terrorism”.
“Israel will do what it must and expects the international community to recognize the right of its struggle”he added.
After two weeks of war, “we must act now to end the nightmare,” Guterres said at the start of the session, while nearly 4,400 Palestinians have been killed by the ongoing shelling of the Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Authority. Ministry of Health.
On the Israeli side, around 1,400 people have lost their lives.
Gaza ‘needs massive aid’, the UN secretary-general added, as only 20 aid trucks managed to enter the Palestinian enclave from the Rafah crossing yesterday. The UN estimates that at least 100 trucks are needed for Gaza’s 2.4 million residents, who are deprived of everything.
Officials from the Arab League, the African Union and the EU attended the summit, which was attended by representatives of Russia, China, Japan, Canada and the US.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II calls for ‘immediate ceasefire’while Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi declared that “the only solution to the Palestinian issue is justice”underlining the “right” of the Palestinians “to establish their own state”.
Guterres returned to the “broader context”, speaking of “56 years of (Israeli) occupation, with no end in sight”. “But nothing can justify the reprehensible attack by Hamas,” which “should immediately and unconditionally release” the hostages it is holding.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stressed that “Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories must be ended” and “the two-state solution” implemented.
US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday from Tel Aviv that this war strengthens “his determination” to implement the two-state solution.
“We will not leave,” Abbas repeated three times, while Egypt and Jordan have been angered by Israel’s order for Palestinians to vacate the northern Gaza Strip and head south.
“Silent World”
The two countries see this as a step towards “forcibly moving” Palestinians into Egypt’s Sinai, which Abbas said would amount to “a second Nakba” (Arabic for catastrophe), a reference to the displacement of 760,000 Palestinians. after the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948.
“The world remains silent,” Abdullah protested, and “this is a very dangerous message.” “The Arab world hears it clearly: Palestinian lives are worth less than Israeli lives. Human rights have limits: they stop at borders, race and religion.”
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan denounced “unconditional military aid to Israel that serves nothing but to maintain the occupation” of the Palestinian territories.
Egypt, which had the initiative to hold the meeting, is at the forefront of diplomatic efforts to resolve the Middle East.
This Arab country, the first to sign a peace accord with Israel in 1979, is a traditional mediator between Israel and the Palestinians and controls the Rafah crossing, the only one to the Gaza Strip not controlled by Israel.
Source: News Beast
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