Ahmed Atef (Cairo)
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Immigration and Egyptian Expatriates Affairs, Dr. Badr Abdel Aati, stressed that Egypt will not accept or allow the existence of an alternative to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), adding that the current campaign to undermine the credibility of the agency aims to undermine the work of international organizations supporting the Palestinian people.
Abdel-Ati said, during a joint press conference with the Agency’s Commissioner-General, Philippe Lazzarini, that UNRWA is considered one of the most important United Nations agencies working in the humanitarian field, due to its role in caring for the affairs of Palestinian refugees inside and outside the occupied Palestinian territories, including Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.
Abdel-Ati stressed the need for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, in addition to facilitating the flow of humanitarian aid into the Strip, noting that Egypt is continuing its efforts with its partners in Qatar and the United States to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and conclude a prisoner exchange deal.
In a related context, the mediators’ efforts to stop the fire in the Gaza Strip and reach a truce continue, as negotiations resumed through new meetings in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, yesterday, after the arrival of an Israeli delegation to continue the negotiations of the prisoner exchange deal, within the framework of an American plan aimed at ending the war that has been ongoing for nine months.
According to informed sources, the Palestinian side has abandoned the condition of a permanent ceasefire, provided that this is reached during the first phase of 6 weeks, while Netanyahu said that he insists that the agreement should not prevent Israel from resuming the fighting until its goals are achieved, explaining that Doha will witness a meeting next Wednesday that will bring together the Director of the American Central Intelligence Agency, William Burns, with the Qatari Prime Minister and the heads of Israeli and Egyptian intelligence.
Egyptian diplomat Ambassador Gamal Bayoumi, former director of the Israel Department at the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, saw that the negotiations situation is very complicated due to the obstacles to reaching a ceasefire agreement, explaining that there are still conditions that hinder reaching a truce.
He pointed out to Al-Ittihad the difficulty of a final ceasefire and a ceasefire, but a truce can be reached during which the remaining stages can be negotiated, especially in light of the Israeli Prime Minister’s confirmation that he will not stop the fighting permanently, and it can be resumed after the truce.
For his part, Palestinian political analyst Jihad Harb explained to Al-Ittihad that the negotiations are an opportunity to reach an agreement on the existing differences, but the crisis lies in the existence of a real desire to reach an agreement, especially in light of the Israeli Prime Minister’s statements that any agreement will allow Israel to resume fighting at any time, which surprised the security establishment and politicians in Israel.
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