Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri stressed the importance of co-operation between the members of the Munich Group comprising of Egypt, Jordan, France and Germany to preemptively contain the situation in the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing Israeli escalation against the Palestinian people.
“The active countries, including the members of the Munich Group, must work proactively to contain the situation in the Gaza Strip before the region slides into a large-scale confrontation that would be difficult to control,” Shoukri said on Thursday during a joint press conference of the foreign ministers of the Munich Group.
The foreign minister also thanked the German government for convening this meeting, which he described as “important” at this time, noting that the Berlin meeting comes as part of the Munich Group to discuss and exchange views on developments of the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories as well as the challenges to reviving the Middle East peace process.
Foreign Minister Shoukri also reiterated Egypt’s strong condemnation of the recent operations carried out by Israel in the Gaza Strip, which led to the death of children and women. He warned that this behaviour threatens regional security, undermines hopes for coexistence and stability in the region and leads to reactions of escalation and vicious circle of violence.
Shoukri asserted the need to end the escalation of violence against the Palestinian people, referring to the Israeli attacks on Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which are currently witnessing unrest due to the continuous attacks on Islamic and Christian holy sites, including Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The foreign minister added that the Berlin meeting reflects the priority that the Munich Group attaches to the Palestinian cause. He also referred to the economic and political crises that the international community is witnessing, whether in the Middle East region due to the crisis in Sudan, or in Europe to due to the Ukrainian crisis, which imposed a “severe burden” on it.
Shoukri also said the Palestinian people have endured historical injustice over the past decades, calling on the international community, which also bears a political, legal and humanitarian responsibility regarding the situation of the Palestinian people, to show the same enthusiasm and determination to address this just cause as it did in dealing with other existing crises.
FM Shoukri affirmed that the Munich Group meeting represented an opportunity to review the efforts made during the past period to calm tension in the Palestinian territories and ways to work to bring view closer and open direct dialogue between the Palestinians and Israeli, the latest of which were the efforts made in the Aqaba and Sharm el-Sheikh meetings.
Shoukri also said that the Egyptian continuous efforts in this regard, including in the context of the recent events in the Gaza Strip, whether with the parties to the conflict or with the international community, in order to calm down the situation and seek to resume the political process.
Discussion about this post