Egypt has repeatedly expressed its opposition to the idea of any forced displacement of Palestinians, fearing they may never be able to return. Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri reiterated Egypt’s rejection in an interview while visiting the US last week.
“At the start of this conflict there were official declarations that the intention was to displace the people of Gaza to Sinai. This is totally unacceptable. It’s a violation of international humanitarian law and an effort to liquidate the Palestinian cause and the aspirations of more than four million Palestinians to have their own state,” he said.
Egypt is exerting every effort to ensure aid is delivered to the Palestinians, unequivocally refuses the displacement of Gazans to Sinai or anywhere else and has declined US requests that Egypt play a security role in post-war Gaza.
Professor of political science Mustafa Kamel Al-Sayed says Egypt is in a very difficult position with limited options. It can reiterate its refusal to allow Palestinians to cross the border into Egypt and continue to call on the US to pressure Israel to end its brutal war, but given Washington’s insistent backing of Israel such calls are likely to go unheeded. As a result, Al-Sayed argues, the Egyptian government may be forced to allow Palestinians safe passage to other countries via Egypt which “may not work, and risks Palestinians ending up staying in Sinai, something that will pose a genuine threat to national security.”
“Egypt is keen to keep the Palestinian cause alive: leaving their lands will definitely end their cause,” points out Tarek Fahmi, an expert on Palestinian affairs.
He notes that Arab and Islamic countries back Egypt’s position, a fact reflected by the recent visit of an Arab/Islamic delegation to the US last week and its meetings with senior US figures including Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Since the start of the war in Gaza, Israel has forced hundreds of thousands of Gazans to flee south towards the border area on the pretext it is safe: this week both UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), warned that the desperate conditions around Rafah could push Palestinians over the border into Egypt.
“I expect public order to completely break down soon and an even worse situation could unfold, including epidemic diseases and increased pressure for mass displacement into Egypt,” said Guterres at a conference in Qatar this week.
Lazzarini underlined that since the beginning of the war Israel has forcibly moved more than 1.8 million Gazans from their homes in the largest displacement of Palestinians since 1948. “The United Nations and several member states, including the US, have firmly rejected forcibly displacing Gazans out of the Gaza Strip. But the developments we are witnessing point to attempts to move Palestinians into Egypt regardless of whether they stay there or are resettled elsewhere,” he wrote in the Los Angeles Times.
Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi voiced the same concerns at the conference in Qatar, saying Israel’s military campaign amounted to “a systematic effort to empty Gaza of its people”.
In an attempt to ease the situation, the US is pressing Egypt to play a post-war role in managing security in the Strip, something Cairo categorically rejects. It is an option President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi ruled out in a meeting with CIA Director William Burns last month, a position which Al-Sayed says is unlikely to be reversed.
On Israel’s avowed aim to eliminate Hamas, Al-Sayed notes: “That will take a long time. Israeli military leaders claim that they need months, if not years, to eliminate Hamas, and even then they might fail.”
Egypt, together with other Arab and Islamic states, also opposes Israeli plans to establish a buffer or security zone inside Gaza along its border with the narrow and overcrowded Strip.
DELIVERING AID
After weeks of negotiations trucks have been allowed to enter Gaza via the Rafah crossing, but far too few to do anything but scratch the surface of the desperate humanitarian catastrophe that is unfolding.
Egypt has provided more than 11,200 tons of humanitarian aid, including food, medicine, medical equipment, mattresses, water and tents, according to Minister of Social Solidarity Nevine Al-Qabbaj. Cairo also played a significant role in mediating the seven-day pause in fighting that led to the release of 200 Israeli and Palestinian prisoners.
This week, a UNSC delegation visited Arish and Rafah to follow up on the supply of humanitarian aid. The visit was coordinated between the UN missions of Egypt and the UAE, and the delegation examined the obstacles Israel has placed on the entry of aid trucks.
According to the latest updates by the Palestinian Health Ministry, the number of Palestinians killed since 7 October has climbed to over 18,000, with more than 49,500 wounded. The majority of victims are women and children.
An estimated 85 per cent of the Gaza population, almost two million people, has been displaced since war broke out following Hamas’ 7 October attack on Israel, according to UNRWA.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 14 December, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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