UN Mideast envoy says keen to coordinate with Egypt on Palestine peace efforts

CAIRO – 21 May 2020: Nickolay Mladenov, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process expressed keenness to fully coordinate with Egypt on the future steps to achieve peace in Palestine, in accordance with the two-state solution, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said.

Mladenov on Thursday made a phone call with Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, during which they discussed the expected international steps during the coming period, within the framework of the Middle East Quartet.

Shoukry reviewed with Mladenov the communications made by the Egyptian side with the relevant parties to push forward regional peace and stability, preserve the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and save the security of all countries in the region in order for them to be able to face challenges, including terrorism.

Shoukry also affirmed the need to avoid unilateral decisions, due to their negative impact on the opportunity to achieve permanent and just peace.

Late in April, Egypt affirmed its steady and unchangeable stance towards the Palestinian cause, rejecting the Israeli unilateral move of annexation of the occupied lands in the West Bank and Jordanian Valley.

In the Arab League Council online extraordinary meeting at the ministerial level, Shoukry called upon the Arab world and the international community to unite for bringing the peace and stability for the Palestinian people and the establishment of the Palestinian statehood on the border of 1967 and Eastern Jerusalem is its capital.

A unilateral action would undermine the opportunities to revive the negotiations that depend on a two-state solution, the Arab Peace Initiative, and international legitimacy and its decisions, Shoukry said in his speech at the meeting.

“Any unilateral action to annex settlements in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley is a flagrant violation of all principles of international law, and the principles and norms that govern international relations,” he said.

Israel has exploited the crisis of coronavirus to impose its fait accompli policy which would push the region towards violence and incite terrorism and extremist ideas, he added.

Shoukry called for alleviating the suffering of the Palestinian refugees in the camps, especially in light of the financial burdens and challenges that faced the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).