CAIRO – Former Egyptian Ambassador to Palestine Ashraf Aql emphasised the importance of the visit of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to Cairo and his meeting with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi to coordinate positions ahead of the meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is currently on a tour of the Middle East, including Egypt and Palestine, along with Turkey, Greece, Jordan, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Israel, seeking to reduce tension and avoid the outbreak of regional conflict.
In statements to the Middle East News Agency (MENA) on Monday, Aql said that the Egyptian-Palestinian summit aimed to develop a common vision on how to stop the ongoing Israeli war on the Gaza Strip and the escalation and violence against Palestinians in the West Bank cities.
He pointed that Sisi is expected to present Egypt’s comprehensive vision regarding the cessation of war, the future of Gaza, the Palestinian issue, and discuss it before conveying it to Washington.
He added that the Palestinian Authority highly valued Egypt’s efforts and continuous strenuous endeavors to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, as well as the continued access of humanitarian aid to the people in the Gaza Strip in an attempt to alleviate the disaster, suffering, and the blockade imposed on them by the occupation.
Meanwhile, the ambassador commended Cairo’s opposition to the plan of displacing Palestinians from their homeland with the aim of emptying the land of its original inhabitants and liquidating the Palestinian cause.
He explained that the Palestinian Authority relied on Egypt to reopen the file of reconciliation and hold a national dialogue between various Palestinian factions, leading to an agreement on a joint Palestinian administration for the West Bank and Gaza under the supervision of the Palestinian Authority by consensus with the other factions.
Aql stressed that national unity and ending Palestinian division will strengthen efforts to establish an independent state and restore the rights of the Palestinian people, especially with the presence of a unified Palestinian administration speaking with one voice on behalf of all Palestinians.
The diplomat called on Arab and Islamic countries to exert all possible pressures on the United States to stop its unconditional support for the extremist Israeli government, which practices ethnic cleansing policies in Gaza. He urged them to save the Middle East, which is threatened with further escalations due to the assassination of Hamas political bureau deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut, the explosions in Iran, the continued shedding of Palestinian blood, as well as the movements of the United States and some Western countries in the Red Sea under the pretext of securing international navigation and global trade, warning of the widening circle of confrontations.
He urged the Arab League to work towards unity and solidarity in those critical times affecting the entire region, especially regarding the issues of Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan, and Libya
