Condemning violence, struggling to end Israeli-Palestinian conflict: What Egypt’s FM said after Negev Summit

CAIRO – 28 March 2022: Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry delivered a speech after the two-day summit in Israel’s Negev Summit, during which he reiterated Egypt’s stance toward the Palestinian cause and its rejection of extremism, terrorism and violence.

Egypt Today displays Shoukry’s messages during a press conference with Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, UAE’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, and the Foreign Minister of Bahrain Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani:

- Egypt has been striving over the years to facilitate and to assist both Israel and the Palestinians to reach the necessary accommodation and compromise that can facilitate an end of the conflict there by open broader doors of regional cooperation and integration.

- We do so in collaboration and with the assistance of our partners in the US and we value very much the coordination that exists and the common understanding related to the path and the way forward.

- We also consider and have on every occasion condemned all resort to violence, terrorism and incitement.

- We believe it is our role as members of the international community but also as Arab states where there are Muslim majority, as President Sisi has always declared, we need to address the religious narrative and to confront terrorism and extremism and thereby provide peace and security for our region.

- Also, we affirm the importance of addressing of extraregional intervention and its negative impact on the security and stability of our region.

- We believe we have the resources and ability to meet these challenges with the help of our partners in the United States and we will continue to seek areas of cooperation that ensure protection of our national security interests within a peaceful and cooperative framework.

- On all of these fronts, I think we have demonstrated our predictability, the dependance, the longevity of our peace with Israel and that we are partners that can be depended on and thereby we seek to enhance the areas of cooperation and interaction that can bring benefit to the region and to international peace and security.

- For all of these reasons, we look forward to continuing this dialogue and to reach an understanding and a consensus of how best to deal with the very many issues and here again.

- I think it is going to be important on the short term to deal with the pressures that might arise and the importance of restricting any unilateral activity that might agitate the current situation and have an impact on the tranquility during a very sensitive and important time.