(Reuters, Cairo, 21st) Arab leaders today condemned Israel’s bombing of Gaza for two consecutive weeks at a peace summit attended by representatives from Western countries, and asked all countries to rededicate their efforts to end the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. years of violent conflict.
The war between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist armed group that controls Gaza, is about to enter its third week. Arab leaders attended the “Cairo Peace Summit” in Egypt today, with attendees Including leaders and foreign ministers from Europe and Africa.
However, a senior European Union (EU) official revealed earlier that it was unclear whether the summit would be able to reach any common statement given the differences among participants.
As Israel’s closest ally, the United States has played a key role in all past actions to promote peace in the Middle East. However, this time it only sent the charge d’affaires of its embassy in Cairo to attend the summit.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II condemned the global silence over Israel’s attack on Gaza and called for a fair settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Abdullah II said: “The message that the Arab world is hearing is that Palestinian lives are less important than Israeli lives.” He feels sad about the violent attacks on innocent civilians in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel. Anger and grief.
Abdullah II also said: “Israeli’s leadership must fully realize that a country that is founded on injustice can never prosper. … Our message to the Israelis is that we hope that you and the Palestinians have a future of peace and security.”
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said at the summit that Palestinians will not move or be driven from their land. “We will not leave, we just will not leave.”
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi stated that Egypt opposes the relocation of Palestinians to the largely uninhabited Sinai region of Egypt. He said that the solution to the Palestinian issue is not to relocate people. The only solution is fairness and justice, and giving Palestinians the legal right to live in an independent country.
Abdullah II also said that forced evictions are a war crime under international law and “a red line for all of us.”
The Cairo conference was aimed at finding ways to prevent the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from turning into a regional war. However, three diplomats pointed out that it is unlikely to issue a joint statement after the meeting, because any call for a ceasefire and whether to include Hamas attacks and Israel’s right to self-defense are sensitive.
The absence of some leaders of Western countries from the summit also lowered the outside world’s expectations for the outcome of the meeting. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron did not attend.
Hamas launched a large-scale raid on Israel on the 7th, triggering Israeli retaliation. The Hamas attack killed at least 1,400 people, most of them civilians. It was the deadliest attack on Israel since its founding in 1948.
The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip controlled by Hamas said that at least 4,385 people have been killed since Israel began bombing, including 1,756 children; another 13,561 people were injured. Central News Agency (translation)
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2023-10-21 15:30:01
