Crisis in the Middle East / Peace meeting in Cairo, without any visible results

2023-10-22 09:00:57, Kosova & Bota CNA

Arab leaders attending a high-level meeting in Cairo on Saturday condemned Israel's bombing of Gaza, while European countries said civilians must be protected.

But there were no high-ranking officials from Israel and the United States at the meeting, and there is no agreement on curbing violence.

Egypt, which organized the meeting, said it had hoped participants would call for peace and resume efforts for a Palestinian state.

But the meeting ended without a joint statement from the leaders and foreign ministers. Diplomats attending the talks had not been optimistic of any progress as Israel prepares for a ground offensive in Gaza aimed at eliminating the Palestinian militant group Hamas which attacked its cities on October 7, killing 1,400 people.

Gaza's health ministry said on Saturday that Israeli airstrikes had killed at least 4,385 Palestinians since the Hamas attack.

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While Arab and Muslim states called for an immediate end to Israel's offensive, Western countries generally expressed more modest objectives, such as humanitarian aid for civilians.

Jordan's King Abdullah denounced what he called global silence over Israel's attacks.

"The message the Arab world is hearing is that Palestinian lives matter less than Israeli lives," he said, adding that he was outraged by acts of violence against innocent civilians in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Palestinians will not be displaced or expelled from their land.

"We will not leave, we will not leave," he said during the meeting.
France has called for a humanitarian corridor in Gaza that it says could lead to a ceasefire. Britain and Germany urged the Israeli military to show restraint and Italy said it was important to avoid escalation.

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The US, Israel's closest ally and a vital factor in all past peace efforts in the region, sent only Cairo's charge d'affaires to the meeting, who did not speak publicly at the meeting.

European Council President Charles Michel said the main purpose of the meeting was "to listen to each other". However, "we understand that we need to work more together" on issues such as the humanitarian situation, avoiding a regional escalation and a Palestinian-Israeli peace process, he added.

Israel has vowed to wipe the Iran-backed militant group Hamas "off the face of the earth" after the shocking October 7 attack, the deadliest by Palestinian militants on Israel in its 75-year history.

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The meeting was aimed at discussing ways to prevent a wider regional war. But diplomats were clear that a public agreement was difficult because of sensitivities surrounding calls for a ceasefire, whether to mention the Hamas attack or Israel's right to defend itself.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said his country is against the resettlement of Palestinians in Egypt's Sinai region, adding that the only solution was an independent Palestinian state.

Egypt fears insecurity near the border with Gaza in northeastern Sinai, where it has faced an Islamist insurgency in the past that peaked after 2013 and is now largely suppressed.

Jordan, home to many Palestinian refugees, fears that a wider conflict would give Israel the opportunity to expel Palestinians en masse from the West Bank.

King Abdullah said the forced displacement "is a war crime under international law and a red line for all of us"./ VOA