Egypt is determined to reclaim its role as a heavyweight in Arab diplomacy. During a one-day meeting bringing together European and Arab heads of state and ministers, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi opened the "peace summit" organized by Cairo on Saturday, October 21, with the aim of de-escalating the war in Gaza.
Some 30 representatives of countries and international organizations were due to meet in the "new administrative capital" of Cairo. Among them were King Abdullah II of Jordan, the Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, President of the United Arab Emirates Mohamed bin Zayed, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell, Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The United States was absent.
This summit was prepared in a matter of days. Since the start of the massive Israeli offensive against the Gaza Strip, which followed Hamas's bloody attack on October 7, President el-Sisi has repeatedly condemned the "collective punishment" imposed on the enclave's inhabitants. The scale of destruction is unprecedented, and more than 4,385 Palestinians have already been killed, according to Hamas. On Friday, the Egyptian president reaffirmed the need to put an end to the ongoing conflict. Egypt and Jordan, who share the same fears of a forced expulsion of Palestinians to their territories and a regional extension of the conflict, also held meetings prior to the summit.
Egyptian diplomacy is seeking broad support for a truce, which will prove difficult. "It's still very early to obtain a consensus, between players with such divergent views, for a call for a ceasefire," noted a foreign diplomatic source in Egypt. "There is a divide between Western countries, which have sided with Israel's right to defend itself and denounced the Hamas attack as terrorism, and Arab countries, which believe that the violence did not begin on October 7 and that the context of the [Israeli] occupation of the Palestinian territories must be remembered. Everyone should express their opinion during the summit, in which the main parties concerned − Israelis and Palestinians from Gaza − will not be taking part." The president of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas, who has been given life support by the West but discredited in the Palestinian streets, was due to take part in the summit.
It remains unclear what form the final declaration will take. Will it come from the organizers or from all the participants? References to the need for de-escalation and urgent humanitarian aid for Gaza, which is under siege, should be included.
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