Deputy Speaker of the Egyptian Parliament Mohamed Abou El-Enein stressed that the displacement of Palestinians is a red line, and that Egypt will not accept attempts to liquidate the Palestinian cause under any circumstances.
During a speech to the UfM Parliamentary Assembly meeting on migration to the Western Mediterranean and the Atlantic held today in Spain, he explained that the Palestinian people themselves will not give up their land and will not leave it, calling on the international community to work to end the Israeli occupation and reach a peace agreement between Palestinians and Israelis.
Abou El-Enein said that the root cause of the conflict in the Middle East is the Israeli occupation, and if we want to achieve security and peace, we must work to end the Israeli occupation and not for the Palestinian people to leave their land so that the occupation remains in it, stressing that this proposal is against international law, values, principles and human rights, and would expand the conflict in the region.
Abou El-Enein added that peace does not need to repeat the attempts of displacement that failed in the past, but rather needs serious political will to end the occupation and establish a Palestinian state on the borders of the fourth of June 1967 living in security and peace next to Israel.
Abou El-Enein added that Egypt, the pioneer of peace in the Middle East, is ready to work with the new US administration, the European Union and all international powers to achieve lasting peace, and that the problem is the lack of Israeli political will.
The Deputy speaker of the House of Representatives called on the members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean to communicate with the US Congress and with parliaments of the world in order to mobilize efforts for peace and stability, proposing the establishment of a parliamentary committee for external communication with other parliaments active in our issues, and to disseminate our vision to deal with the issues of our region, and to mobilize international support for this vision.
Abou El-Enein pointed out that the biggest obstacle to regional integration and the biggest source of threat to peace, security in the region is the continued Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and depriving the Palestinian people of their legitimate right to establish an independent Palestinian state on the borders of the fourth of June 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital, calling for taking advantage of the opportunity represented by the ceasefire agreement and the global interest in the Palestinian cause to pressure and take practical measures to reach peace, security and lasting stability to be enjoyed by Palestinians, Israelis and the world.
Achieving peace in Palestine, stopping the war in Sudan and restoring stability in Libya, Syria and Yemen is a key component of efforts to address the root causes of displacement and irregular migration, he said.
Abou El-Enein explained that millions of citizens from these countries were forced to flee their homelands in search of security and stability, which requires that we create conditions that enable them to return safely to their country, support national state institutions in these countries, respect their sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity, non-interference in their internal affairs and stop the flow of weapons to militias and armed groups.
The deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives also called for expanding legal pathways for immigration and encouraging the transfer of investments in order to create jobs that encourage young people to stay in their countries.
Deputy Speaker Mohamed Abou El-Enein noted that Egypt deals with the issue of migration through a comprehensive perspective, as it qualifies young people and builds their capacities in line with labor markets at home and abroad in an effort to support organized migration pathways, and cooperates with many European countries in this field, in addition to addressing the root causes of irregular migration and raising awareness of its risks.
Abou El Enein stressed that economic and social challenges and global transformations require greater solidarity and deeper integration, and that we prioritize encouraging investments and benefiting from the global shift from global supply chains to regional chains in order to resettle European supply chains in the southern Mediterranean countries.
He also called for a review of existing free trade agreements and the adoption of a new generation of them linking trade liberalization with the promotion of foreign direct investment, enabling the free and unhindered movement of goods and services at borders or beyond borders enhanced by a modern Euro-Mediterranean transport network, and for a Euro-Mediterranean financial institution to lead integration projects, market and finance investment, trade and infrastructure opportunities.
Abou El-Enein stressed the importance of turning the challenge of climate change into an opportunity to encourage more investments in renewable energy, green hydrogen production, electricity grids, create a regional market for green electricity, work to expand the Euro-Mediterranean partnership to extend to regional neighborhood in Africa and the Arabian Gulf region, and to think about establishing a free trade area that brings together Europe, the Southern Mediterranean, the Arabian Gulf and Africa, with the implementation of major infrastructure projects linking all these countries.
