According to Reuters, 24 world politicians and diplomats met in Egypt to discuss de-escalation of the conflict between Israel and Hamas and peace in the Middle East. The absence of the leaders of three countries – the US, Israel and Iran – makes the Cairo summit less likely to produce surprising results, POLITICO said.
Local TV station Qahera News reported that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and King Abdullah II of Jordan, as well as UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, announced their presence at the summit. The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, as well as representatives of, among others, Qatar, Italy, Greece, Germany and Russia also took part in Saturday’s meeting.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will be absent in Cairo. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will also not attend the meeting.
A senior EU official said discussions were ongoing joint declaration The summit took place, but diplomats still differed on several issues. It is unclear whether final text will be produced.
Uncertain future
Egyptian President Abd al-Fattah al-Sisi said on Wednesday that millions of Egyptians would oppose the forced migration of Palestinians to Sinai. Egypt’s position reflects Arab fears that Palestinians will be forced to flee their homes en masse, as happened during the war that accompanied Israel’s founding in 1948.
Israeli officials – including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – say as much they will eliminate Hamas in retaliation for the October 7 attacks. However, according to regional and Western officials familiar with the conflict, Israel does not have a clear plan for how it will govern the Palestinian enclave after the attack.
Some of US President Joe Biden’s advisers worry that while Israel may be developing an effective plan to inflict long-term damage on Hamas, it has yet to formulate an exit strategy from the enclave.
The humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip plays out in the background.
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