Egypt and Qatar pledge to dismiss forced displacement of Gazans
Egypt and Qatar have vowed to strictly oppose any Israeli attempt to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Gaza, according to Middle East Monitor via Anadolu Agency on August 28th.
The prime ministers of the two Arab nations met in the Egyptian coastal city of New Alamein. A cabinet statement outlined that Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and his Qatari counterpart, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman, reiterated their “categorical rejection” of plans to forcibly displace Gaza’s population of 2.1 million out of the enclave.
They stressed the urgent need to coordinate with the United States in order to secure an immediate ceasefire. Another key goal identified was to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid to mitigate what the British Red Cross recognised as “catastrophic levels” of malnutrition due to the famine onset caused by Israel’s blockade of the territory.
Egypt and Qatar’s ceasefire proposal was based on the previous plan of US envoy Steve Witkoff, which was agreed to by Israel in May but rejected by Hamas.
This time around, Hamas promptly agreed to the Egypt-Qatar ceasefire proposal, which would include a 60-day truce and a prisoner swap. However, likely due to pressure from hawkish far-right ministers, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to ignore the proposal.
Netanyahu is pushing ahead with his security cabinet’s plan to conquer Gaza city. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have already declared the city a “dangerous combat zone” where pauses in military activity to allow the delivery of aid have been suspended, according to The Guardian on August 29th.
The assault is expected to displace thousands of Palestinians to the south of the Gaza Strip, stirring up fears that it constitutes the initiation of an ethnic cleansing campaign. An IDF spokesperson had said that the mass evacuation of Gaza City is “inevitable”, according to The Times of Israel on August 27th.
Egypt has also called for a $53 billion Gaza reconstruction plan to commence once a ceasefire is reached. The five-year project, which was adopted by the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in March, but was rejected by Israel and the United States, seeks to rebuild the territory without displacing the residents.
Egypt has been proactive in arranging various international alliances to resist Israeli advances. President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi had met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman where they discussed establishing “an Arab political umbrella” to restrain Israeli expansionism.
These efforts are likely motivated in part by the direct threat Netanyahu recently made to Egyptian national sovereignty by declaring his mission to achieve a “Greater Israel”, a fantasy in which Israel would increase in size by annexing surrounding territories, including Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
Middle East Monitor via Anadolu Agency, British Red Cross, Maghrebi.org, Sky News, The Guardian, The Times of Israel
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