The Cairo Peace Summit was overshadowed by forced displacement and warnings against the expansion of the Israel-Hamas conflict in the Gaza Strip, amid fears that it could lead to a regional war.
Speeches at the summit revealed disparities in positions toward the war on Gaza, and the meeting ended with leaders and officials not agreeing on a joint statement.
The Arab leaders focused on rejecting the displacement of the Palestinians and urging for an immediate cessation of the war, while the European officials called for opening a safe corridor to ensure aid delivery.
The Egyptian Presidency stated that it would spare no effort in continuing to work with all partners to achieve the goals that called for holding this summit, regardless of the difficulties or the duration of the conflict.
Egypt will always maintain its firm position in support of Palestinian rights, believing in peace as a strategic and irreversible option until the vision of a two-state solution, Palestinians and Israelis, living side by side, is realized.
By calling for this summit, the Egyptian Presidency sought to build an international consensus that transcends cultures, races, religions, and political stances, prioritizing the flow of humanitarian and relief aid and delivering it to the proper beneficiaries from the people of the Gaza Strip.
Egypt looked forward to the participants to launch a global call for peace.
"The international scene over the past decades has revealed a serious deficiency in finding a just and lasting solution to the Palestinian issue because it sought to manage the conflict and not end it permanently."
The statement noted: "While we see one place rushing and competing to condemn the killing of innocent people promptly, we find incomprehensible hesitation in denouncing the same act in another place. We even see attempts to justify this killing, as if the life of the Palestinian human being is less important than that of other people."
Leaders, heads of government, and envoys from regional and international countries participated in the summit, seeking to advance efforts to contain the crisis in the Gaza Strip.
During his speech at the opening session, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi called on the summit participants to agree on a roadmap to end the current humanitarian tragedy and revive the path of peace.
Sisi explained that the roadmap begins with ensuring the full, safe, unfettered, and sustainable flow of humanitarian aid and relief to the people of Gaza, followed instantaneously by negotiations on achieving calm and a ceasefire.
Then, he indicated that it should be followed by talks on reviving the peace process, which shall start to put into effect the two-state solution and establish an independent Palestinian State based on the resolutions of international legitimacy.
Sisi renewed his country's condemnation of "in the clearest terms, the targeting, killing, and intimidation of peaceful civilians."
He expressed at the same time Cairo's "deep shock that the world is standing by idly while the catastrophic humanitarian crisis unfolds. Two and a half million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are being punished collectively."
Since the beginning of the Israeli attack on Gaza, Tel Aviv has tightened the siege on the Strip, cutting off its water, electricity, and fuel supplies.
On Saturday, the first aid convoy crossed the Rafah border to Gaza, including 20 trucks loaded with medicines and food supplies. The crossing was closed again, and other trucks awaited permission to enter.
- Rejecting displacement
The Egyptian President reaffirmed his country's "vehement rejection of the forced displacement of the Palestinians and their transfer to Egyptian lands in Sinai," saying it would mark the last gasp in the "liquidation of the Palestinian cause, and shatter the dream of an independent Palestinian state."
He asserted that the Palestinian people do not want to leave their land, even under occupation or bombardment.
"I want to state it clearly and unequivocally to the world and articulate in sincere terms the will of all the Egyptian people, every single Egyptian: that the liquidation of the Palestinian cause without a just solution is beyond the realm of possibility, and in all cases it will never happen at the expense of Egypt, absolutely not," stressed Sisi.
Since the war on Gaza, former Israeli officials and Western politicians have circulated a proposal to displace Gazans to Sinai, which Cairo has repeatedly rejected.
Jordan's King Abdullah said in his opening speech that it is a "war crime" to force Palestinians to leave or internally displace them.
The monarch asserted that Jordan would work to stop this humanitarian disaster, pushing the entire region into the abyss.
The Israeli leadership must realize that there is no military solution to its security concerns, said the King, adding that it cannot continue to sideline the five million Palestinians living under its occupation with their legitimate rights denied.
He asserted: "Palestinians' lives are no less valuable than Israeli lives."
For his part, Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa affirmed in his speech that there would be no stability in the Middle East without securing the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.
He reiterated his country's categorical rejection of displacing the people of Gaza from their land and the land of their ancestors.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan affirmed the Kingdom's rejection of attempts to forcibly displace Palestinians. He denounced all forms of targeting of civilians, calling on the international community to force Israel to respect international laws.
The Kuwaiti Crown Prince, Sheikh Meshaal Ahmad Al-Sabah, rejected the forced displacement of the Palestinian people, warning of dangerous repercussions for the region and the world.
In his speech, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called for Israel to stop "its barbaric aggression" in Gaza and warned against attempts to push Palestinians out of the coastal territory.
"We will not leave, we will not leave, we will not leave, and we will remain in our land," he told the summit.
Abbas called on the UN Security Council to fulfill its responsibility to protect the Palestinian people and warned against any expulsions of Palestinians or their displacement from Jerusalem or the West Bank.
In Beirut, a group of Arab and Lebanese figures addressed a message to the Cairo Peace Summit, asking it to take a unified position rejecting the Israeli aggression and ensuring Tel Aviv's commitment and implementation of the relevant international resolutions.
They also called the summit to ensure the immediate provision of food and medical aid to Gaza, ending Israel's inhumane siege, and establishing an Arab and international fund to reconstruct Gaza and the destroyed areas.
More than 50 Arab and Lebanese personalities signed the letter, including former Lebanese Presidents Michel Sleiman and Amin Gemayel, former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, and former Progressive Socialist Party Chief Walid Jumblatt.
The prominent Arab signatories included Iyad Allawi, Taher al-Masry, Ali Abu al-Ragheb, al-Akhdar al-Ibrahimi, Amr Moussa, Nabil Fahmy, Mohammad al-Saqr, and Ali Nasser Mohamad.
