(C) Common Dreams
This story was originally published by Common Dreams and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



‘Displacing Palestinians to Sinai will make it base of operations against Israel, they can be transferred to Naqab desert’ [1]

['Ian Madamasr.Com', 'Zeinab Al-Ghonaimy', 'Ahmed Bakr']

Date: 2023-10-18

In a nationwide address on Wednesday morning, a day after the bombing of a Gaza Strip hospital which has drawn the ire of regional Arab states, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi denounced Israel’s ongoing military operation in the enclave as designed to push Palestinians to seek refuge in Egypt.

The president’s remarks came in a 13-minute address, in which he said that, if Palestinians were displaced to Egypt, any prospect for a Palestinian state would no longer be viable. Sinai, Sisi continued, would then become the base for operations against Israel, operations Egypt would have to face the consequences of.

Sisi made these remarks while going off script from a written statement during a joint press conference that followed a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who arrived in Egypt on Wednesday following his Tuesday visit to Israel, where he reiterated Germany’s solidarity and support for Tel Aviv.

When the president went off script, he said that if Israel insists on moving Palestinians out of Gaza until it completes the declared mission to eliminate Hamas, then it can transfer Palestinian civilians from the Gaza Strip to the Naqab desert and then bring them back to Gaza if it wants.

Sisi also hinted at allowing millions of Egyptians to demonstrate to express their rejection of the idea of displacing Palestinians to Egypt “if necessary,” stressing that “millions of Egyptians will come out to express their rejection of it.”

In his prepared remarks, the president stressed the necessity of allowing aid to cross into Gaza in light of the deteriorating humanitarian situation, stressing that Egypt continues to receive humanitarian aid and is committed to transporting it to the strip through the Rafah border crossing “as long as conditions permit.” He stressed that Egypt did not shut down the crossing, stating that “developments on the ground and the repeated Israeli bombing on the Palestinian side of the crossing have prevented operations.”

Sisi stated that the consultations with Scholz came in light of the military escalation in the Gaza Strip, which has claimed the lives of thousands of civilians on both sides. He emphasized that the humanitarian situation in the strip was deteriorating “in an unfortunate and unprecedented manner,” adding that the continuation of military operations will have security and humanitarian repercussions that could get out of control and extend the conflict if the escalation does not stop.

Sisi said that he agreed with Scholz on the necessity of returning to a path toward de-escalation and dealing with the Palestinian issue from a perspective that guarantees the establishment of an independent Palestinian state within the borders defined in June 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The president also affirmed Egypt’s condemnation of all military actions targeting civilians in clear violation of all international laws, expressing “deep sorrow and pain” and offering his “sincere condolences to the victims of the brutal bombing of Ahli Arab Hospital.”

Over 500 people were killed in Gaza on Tuesday after an Israeli airstrike targeted the hospital, where medics were treating the wounded of the war and displaced people were taking refuge.

The Rafah border crossing remains closed after several Israeli airstrikes and unsuccessful diplomatic efforts at brokering a ceasefire to allow for the passage of humanitarian assistance. Palestinians of Gaza, alongside aid agencies, including United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, the largest operating in the strip, have reported a humanitarian crisis, with the lack of drinking water, electricity and vital supplies.

Israeli air strikes have been ongoing on the Gaza strip since October 7, in response to Hamas’ unprecedented attack that day targeting Israeli territories surrounding the strip.

Here is the full text of Sisi’s improvised remarks at the press conference:

Allow me to say that I spoke for a long time with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz about this and stressed that liquidating the Palestinian cause is a very dangerous matter. I can explain this over and over again — what we see now in the Gaza Strip is not just a military operation against Hamas, but an attempt to force the civilian population to take refuge and migrate into Egypt. I’m talking very clearly here to anyone who cares about peace in the region and about the importance of not accepting this — all of us, not just Egypt. We are a sovereign state that has been keen throughout past years, since the peace treaty was signed with Israel, on taking that path as a strategic choice that we are keen on developing, and we seek for this path to encourage other states to join it.

So, the idea of displacing Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt entails another similar situation, which is displacing Palestinians in the West Bank to Jordan, making the idea of a Palestinian state, which we talk about and which the whole international community talks about, unviable. The land will exist, but the population will not, and I warn of the danger of this.

By the way, I repeatedly explained this to the chancellor, who showed great understanding and appreciation of the idea: transferring the refugees, the Palestinian citizens, from the strip to Sinai would simply be transferring their resistance, the fighting, from the Gaza Strip to Sinai, turning Sinai into a launch pad for operations against Israel and making Israel within its rights to defend itself and its national security by conducting strikes on Egyptian land in retaliation.

Egypt is a big country that has been sincerely keen on peace. We therefore all need to contribute to this big investment that we made in the peace process, so it will not be lost to an unviable idea.

An important point remains — and I expressed this to the chancellor and will say it again in public — that, if there is a proposal to displace Palestinians, Israel has the Naqab desert and can transfer Palestinians there until it finishes its mission of eliminating resistance factions or armed groups, including Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and others, then move them back [to the strip] if it wants.

But moving them to Egypt? Such a military operation is very loose and can last for years. I could then say that we haven’t eradicated terrorism yet, that we haven’t finished the mission, and Egypt would bear the consequences of that. Sinai would become a base for terrorist operations against Israel, and we, in Egypt, would bear the responsibility for that. The peace we created would slip away from our hands, all under the context of eliminating the Palestinian cause.

I told the chancellor that we have 105 million people in Egypt, and Egyptian and Arab public opinion affect each other. If the situation calls for me to ask the Egyptian people to publicly express their rejection of this idea, you will see millions on the streets in rejection of this idea and in support of the Egyptian position.

I am saying this before things [escalate], because we see the absolute blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip — I’m sorry to have spoken at such length, chancellor, but this is a serious issue — and the process of preventing water, fuel, electricity and aid from entering the strip, he ultimate goal is to displace Palestinians from the strip to Egypt. We refuse the eradication of the Palestinian cause and their displacement to Sinai.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.madamasr.com/en/2023/10/18/news/u/displacing-palestinians-to-sinai-will-make-it-base-of-operations-against-israel-they-can-be-transferred-to-naqab-desert/

Published and (C) by Common Dreams
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0..

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/commondreams/