Broad Participation Anticipated in Egypt’s Int’l Peace Summit

A handout picture released by the Jordanian Royal Palace shows Jordan's King Abdullah II (L) meeting with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo on October 19, 2023. (Photo by Chris Setian / Jordanian Royal Palace / AFP)
A handout picture released by the Jordanian Royal Palace shows Jordan's King Abdullah II (L) meeting with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo on October 19, 2023. (Photo by Chris Setian / Jordanian Royal Palace / AFP)
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Broad Participation Anticipated in Egypt’s Int’l Peace Summit

A handout picture released by the Jordanian Royal Palace shows Jordan's King Abdullah II (L) meeting with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo on October 19, 2023. (Photo by Chris Setian / Jordanian Royal Palace / AFP)
A handout picture released by the Jordanian Royal Palace shows Jordan's King Abdullah II (L) meeting with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo on October 19, 2023. (Photo by Chris Setian / Jordanian Royal Palace / AFP)

The international peace summit on Palestine, scheduled to be hosted by Cairo on Saturday, is expected to witness “broad and high-level international participation,” informed sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.

This summit is part of an initiative that calls for “the urgent commencement of discussions on a comprehensive resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, based on the two-state solution,” which has garnered support from China and Russia.

After a meeting of the National Security Council last Sunday under the leadership of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Egypt extended an invitation to host a regional and international summit on the Palestinian cause.

Sources cited by Egyptian media revealed that the attendance of several leaders from Arab and Gulf countries, as well as Türkiye, Greece, Italy, Cyprus, and the UN Secretary-General, has been confirmed.

Egypt's vision to leverage the current worldwide attention on the Palestinian issue for discussions towards a comprehensive resolution and revitalizing the peace process has garnered substantial support from both Arab and international communities.

This was affirmed by Samaa Suleiman, the representative of the Foreign, Arab and African Affairs Committee in the Egyptian Senate.

Suleiman shed light on “the international community’s lack of neutrality in dealing with the Palestinians and the obstruction of any efforts aimed at accepting Palestine as a full member of the UN.”

Suleiman stressed “the importance of urging the international community to find a just, comprehensive, and lasting solution to the Palestinian cause, based on the two-state solution, and activating the right to self-determination for the Palestinian people by establishing their independent state within the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital."

For his part, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly praised Egypt’s initiative to host an international summit on Saturday to address the ongoing crisis and coordinate international efforts to de-escalate tensions and violence.



Iraqi PM Adviser: US Keeps Iran Gas Waiver but Ends Power Exemption

Model of natural gas pipeline, Iran and US flags, July 18, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Model of natural gas pipeline, Iran and US flags, July 18, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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Iraqi PM Adviser: US Keeps Iran Gas Waiver but Ends Power Exemption

Model of natural gas pipeline, Iran and US flags, July 18, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Model of natural gas pipeline, Iran and US flags, July 18, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

The Iraqi prime minister's foreign affairs adviser, Farhad Alaaeldin, told a local Iraqi TV channel on Wednesday that the waiver guaranteed by the United States on importing Iranian gas has not been revoked and is still in effect.

The exemption on imported power, though, has been cancelled, Alaaeldin said, Reuters reported.

Alaaeldin said most Iraqi power plants run on gas from Iran, with 43% of Iraq's electricity generated by the gas imported from its neighbour to the east.

Still, the US was encouraging Iraq to secure gas from other sources, Alaaeldin said.

"The American administration says ... diversify your import sources. Go to other countries."