Egypt blasts Israel’s ‘extremist’ position on Gaza plan
Abdelatty, the Egyptian foreign minister, blasted Israel’s criticism of the plan as “unacceptable”, describing the Netanyahu government’s position as “stubborn and extremist”.
Abdelatty said that “there will be no peace, neither to Israel or to the region” without an independent Palestinian state.
“No single state should be allowed to impose its will on the international community,” he added.
Israel’s response to the Arab plan for Gaza comes as no surprise
The Israeli Foreign Ministry has released a statement rejecting the plan that’s been adopted by all of the Arab leaders at the emergency summit in Cairo. It said that Arab leaders failed to address the attacks on October 7, and the aftermath they caused in Israel.
However, the Israelis also say the Arab states didn’t “give President Trump’s plan a fair chance, saying that it would provide free will for the Palestinian people of Gaza to leave”.
But it’s worth mentioning that Arab states and many countries around the world have condemned the plan by the Americans because it would see the forced displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
Israel also says that the Palestinian Authority and UNRWA are two organisations that it does not want to work with, which is why it has deemed UNRWA illegal, basing it on what they call “terrorist activity” within the organisation.
It’s no surprise that this is the Israeli reaction because Israel hasn’t really had a plan for the “day-after” in the Gaza Strip. It’s one of the biggest criticisms, in fact, from the Israeli public who say Israel has never had a vision for what it wanted to see after the war ended. And that’s why Israel has adopted the controversial plan by Trump.
Nonetheless, the Arab countries are saying this plan is the only way to move forward.
UN chief urges self-determination, freedom for Gaza after Arab summit
Antonio Guterres made the call in a series of posts on X, after attending the Arab summit on Gaza reconstruction in Cairo.
The UN secretary-general said the recovery in Gaza will take “more than concrete and steel”, emphasising the importance of “dignity, self-determination and security”.
“The Palestinian people must have the right to govern themselves, to chart their own future, and to live on their land in freedom and security,” he said.
Guterres also addressed Israel’s blockade of Gaza, saying that “humanitarian aid is not negotiable” and “must flow without impediment”. He also called for “serious negotiations for the ceasefire in all its facets” to be “resumed without delay”.
Guterres’s posts on X echo his remarks at the summit on Tuesday, where he said Gaza “must remain an integral part of an independent, democratic and sovereign Palestinian state, with no reduction in its territory or forced transfer of its population”.
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