The foreign ministers of Jordan, Egypt and America held a press conference on Saturday, with the Jordanian capital, Amman, hosting the “Amman-Gaza” meeting with the aim of discussing stopping the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Al-Safadi said:
In this difficult time, our humanitarian values and our ancient, continuing relationship dictate our keenness to protect all the peoples of our region from the scourge of war, and to work together in an uninterrupted manner to end this catastrophe that erupted on October 7. Our conversation today was frank, direct, comprehensive, in-depth, and transparent, reflecting differing Arab and American positions regarding what must be done immediately to end this disaster, but it stressed the common interest in continuing our intense engagement to stop what we can only describe as a disaster whose nightmares will haunt the region for generations, and that we all want a just and comprehensive peace. On the basis of the two-state solution, it is a way to guarantee the security of the region and to ensure the security of the Palestinians and Israelis and the security of the peoples of our region. There were points of convergence, I mean, between the American position and the position expressed by the Arab foreign ministers who were at the meeting, which included the necessity of delivering humanitarian support to Gaza, resuming humanitarian services, protecting civilians, and the necessity of adhering to international law and international humanitarian law, releasing civilians, and refusing to displace Palestinians. Displacement is another war crime that we will confront with all our might. As Arab countries, we demand an immediate ceasefire and the war and the destruction it causes, and we reject describing it as self-defense. It is a raging war that kills civilians and destroys everything and cannot be justified. It will not bring security to Israel and will not bring peace to the region. The international community should focus on stopping the war in Gaza.
Blinken: We support UNRWA and will continue to make efforts to help it
For his part, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said:
We appreciate the involvement of all those present, especially Jordan and Egypt, as they are partners with whom we worked for the two-state solution and with determination to have a peaceful and stable Middle East. We came together sharing the same goal, which is to end the conflict in a way that ensures lasting peace in the region. We may have different visions, but we affirmed our collective commitment to work for peace. Countries in the Middle East and outside it played a central role in avoiding escalation. We agreed to exploit our influence and capabilities to prevent any group or country from opening another front in this war. There are joint efforts that were necessary to provide aid to Gaza, especially Egypt. There are great efforts to establish a mechanism to work with Israel and the United Nations. Every day, more than 100 trucks enter Rafah. Today we talked about ways to accelerate and expand this aid to the Gaza Strip. We will continue to work to bring our citizens, other foreigners and those injured out of Gaza. We are focused on the release of our citizens and all hostages. Today we talked about the need to protect Palestinian citizens, and America supports Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas. We all need protection and Israel must take measures to prevent harm to civilians. I conveyed some steps that can be taken in this context to Israeli officials, and this will prevent Hamas from exploiting the situation. When a Palestinian child is pulled from under the destruction, it is painful for everyone. UNRWA lost 77 of its employees, all of whom were trying to provide the basic needs of citizens. We affirm the United States’ support for “humanitarian truces” in Gaza. We believe that a humanitarian truce can be a critical mechanism to protect civilians, deliver aid, and remove foreigners from Gaza. Our view is that a ceasefire now will enable Hamas to reorganize its ranks and repeat attacks.
In turn, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said:
Today’s purpose was to discuss developments in the crisis in Gaza and to allow the expression of a unified vision and position regarding this crisis. I was keen to clarify Egypt’s vision, which is compatible with the Arab vision, in dealing with the crisis, and stressed the need to take into account the element of time and rapid developments. The killing events in Gaza cannot be justified, and we will not accept entering into a useless controversy or accepting an attempt to justify what is happening as an implementation of the legitimate right to self-defense. Targeting innocent civilians, civilian and medical facilities, and attempts at forced displacement cannot be legitimate self-defense in any way. Egypt is doing everything in its power to ensure the continuation of aid and assistance in treating wounded civilians, and will continue its relevant efforts despite the deliberate obstacles it faces. It stressed the inevitability of agreeing to an unconditional ceasefire and for Israel to refrain from violating the rules of international law and the laws of war, and to redouble its work to ensure the delivery of aid in a sustainable manner and in quantities that meet the needs of the Palestinian people. She stressed the need to stop dealing with issues that threaten security with double standards. While some are quick to condemn the targeting of civilians and describe attacks on them as flagrant violations of international law and adhere to ceasefires in other crises, we witness opposition from the same parties when it comes to the Palestinian issue. It is too early to talk about the future of Gaza, and we must focus on stopping the conflict and getting aid in.
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2023-11-04 16:05:17
