Delay in resolving Palestinian cause puts world at risk of instability: Egypt

CAIRO – 27 September 2024: Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty has warned that procrastination in settling the Palestinian cause exposes the region and the world to the risk of instability and further instability in light of the absence of foreseeable horizon for the end of the crisis.

Abdelatty made the remarks during the Ministerial Meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Committee for Palestine on Thursday, held on the sidelines of the high-level segment of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 79) in New York.

In his speech at the meeting, Abdelatty highlighted the massive number of Palestinian casualties and injuries in the Gaza Strip, as well as the destruction of over 90% of residential structures in the enclave.

He reiterated Egypt's repeated warnings about Israeli plans to make life in Gaza impossible, along with Israel's ongoing military control over the city of Rafah and the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing.

He emphasized that Israel is evading the responsibility, as the occupying power according to international law, for the civilians in the Gaza Strip.

Abdelatty also addressed the obstructive policies affecting Palestinians in the West Bank, whether through the unleashing of settler violence, demolitions, evictions, military incursions, and seizure of lands in West Bank cities.

He also highlighted Israel's appropriation of occupied Palestinian land through settlement activities and the entrenchment of the occupation.

The foreign minister reaffirmed Egypt's complete rejection of any Israeli attempts to liquidate the Palestinian issue by displacing the Palestinian people from their land in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.

Abdelatty called on the international community to strongly oppose all occupation practices, urging the UN Security Council and influential international powers to fulfill their responsibilities in halting this dangerous escalation in the Middle East.

He called for international collaboration for preventing the security situation from spiraling out of control, putting an end to the policy of brinkmanship.

Abdelatty emphasized Egypt's strong efforts in humanitarian, relief, and political avenues, as well as in mediation between Israel and Hamas to reach a ceasefire in Gaza.

He stressed the necessity of uniting the message of the NAM countries to highlight that the decades-long suffering of the Palestinian people across their entire occupied territories will only cease through recognizing a Palestinian state based on the borders of June 4, 1967, with its capital in East Jerusalem, granting it full UN membership, and working towards implementing the two-state solution according to international references.

He warned that delaying the resolution of this issue exposes the region, and indeed the world at large, to instability and risks further escalation without a foreseeable end to this crisis.