Without the presence of the United States and Israel, the Cairo peace summit held yesterday with representatives of 34 countries showed that no one is trying or aspiring to stop an Israeli military incursion into Gaza, while tens of thousands of soldiers and hundreds of battle tanks await the order to attack.
At most, the first two Arab states to recognize Israel, Egypt and Jordan, vented criticism, especially in relation to any Israeli temptation to complete its “disengagement” from the administration of the Gaza Strip – outlined by Defense Minister Gallant on Friday – at the cost of transferring the Palestinian population to the Sinai Peninsula. A fear of paying for the party that Egypt opposes on foot and on horseback because of the destabilizing potential it would entail.
So, at the opening of his first summit and resuming Egypt’s diplomatic capacity, President Al-Sissi vehemently rejected the hypothetical “forced displacement and transfer of Palestinians to the Egyptian lands of the Sinai”. Whatever the plans of Washington and Tel-Aviv for the inhabitants of Gaza, “it will not be at the expense of Egypt”.
The King of Jordan, Abdal-II, also showed irritation with Israel’s way of proceeding and drew “a red line” at the option of Israel disengaging from the administration of Gaza. Jordan already has experience – and it was not friendly or peaceful – of what it means to host hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees and their cause, the reason for the “Black September” crisis of 1970 that ended with the firing of the Fedayeen from the OAP of Yasser Arafat, who had to go to Lebanon, from where they were also expelled – again at gunpoint – in 1982 in the direction of Tunisia.
The summit closed without a joint statement, given the difficulties in describing what has happened in the region. So, the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, stated that it was about “listening to each other”.
President Pedro Sánchez intervened to claim the revitalization of the two-state formula, proposed in the Oslo accords, signed 30 years ago. “We strongly condemn the terrorist attacks perpetrated against Israel. And we also recognize Israel’s right to defend itself in strict compliance with international law and international humanitarian law,” he said.
The acting president pointed out that first of all the civilian population must be protected and aid access to Gaza must be guaranteed, which calls for adherence to the United Nations request “for a halt to the humanitarian fire”.
In addition, “Hamas must release all hostages immediately and unconditionally. We must ensure that all hostages, including Israelis and people of other nationalities, can return safely.” And as for “the most important thing”, Sánchez suggested “offering the Palestinian people and the Israeli people a reliable perspective of peace, which must be the materialization of the two-state solution. For too many years the international community has thought that we could live without paying much attention to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Recent events have clearly proved us wrong. Today we cannot postpone a solution”.
Cairo’s predictable diplomatic fiasco unfolded in parallel with the expected entry through Egypt’s Rafah border crossing of 20 humanitarian aid trucks under United Nations supervision, the first aid convoy since Israel blockaded the strip after the terrorist incursion of Hamas into Israeli territory on October 7. The entry of the convoy is little more than a drop of water in the sea, taking into account that before the war about 450 trucks entered there daily.
The gesture was sponsored by the United States on the occasion of President Joe Biden’s visit to Israel on Wednesday and has taken longer than expected to come true. One of the requirements, reiterated yesterday by the Secretary of State of the United States, Antony Blinken, and which explains the delay in materializing, is the zeal in inspections. “We have been clear: Hamas must not interfere with the provision of this vital assistance.”
