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Al-Ahram Weekly

Summit on Gaza: Basics established - Egypt - Al-Ahram Weekly

How far could Cairo's extraordinary Arab Summit really go in containing the horrific humanitarian and political situation facing the population of Gaza? Egypt is planning to host an international conference for the reconstruction of Gaza based on the conclusions of the extraordinary Arab Summit that convened on Tuesday in Cairo and endorsed the Egyptian plan on Gaza — an alternative to the American scheme to displace Strip residents. The conference was announced by President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi during his statement to the summit which he co-chaired with Bahraini King Hamad bin Eissa Al-Khalifa. Bahrain is the current chair of the Arab Summit. The reconstruction conference, said President Al-Sisi, is part of Egypt's ongoing commitment to help Gazans overcome the destruction caused by 'the ferocious war on the Gaza Strip that aimed to destroy livelihoods and use military power to evict Gazans from their land.' The final communiqué adopted by the summit underlined the urgent need for reconstruction despite a lack of commitment to the details of Egypt's reconstruction plan. The communiqué expressed Arab countries' commitment to supporting the rights of the Palestinians and ending the historical injustice against them. The communiqué also underlined the firm rejection to any form of forced displacement of Palestinians. However, it made no clear pledges or commitments on the part of the member states participating in the summit. Egyptian official and political sources concede that the language of the final communiqué could have been stronger. They also say that the level of representation of Arab League member states could have been higher, especially given the participation of the UN secretary-general and other international figures who came to Cairo to discuss ways to give Gazans a chance to rebuild their lives. 'We had higher expectations, of course, especially in view of the strong push from Washington to expel Palestinians from Gaza, but we had no choice but to work with the available common denominators to try and reach some level of consensus,' said an Egyptian source. He added that as Arab leaders arrived at the meeting hall on Tuesday afternoon, there was at least agreement 'on the basics of a collective Arab opposition to the forced expulsion of Gazans'. While ultimately nobody is going to say that the position adopted by the Arab Summit was neither uncompromising nor strong, the source said the fact that the summit had convened, 'even with fewer Arab leaders than Cairo had hoped for', could help put the brakes on the plan proposed by US President Donald Trump to transfer Gazans to Egypt, Jordan, and other destinations. It was at Egypt's initiative that Arab leaders convened in Cairo to discuss a collective Arab position on the Trump plan. Prior to the summit, Egypt had lobbied for support for a draft plan designed to allow Palestinians in Gaza to remain, with some internal relocations away from the border with Israel, and to launch a reconstruction scheme to reverse the massive damage caused by the 15-month Israeli war on the Strip. The lobbying proved an uphill task, say official and non-official sources who have spoken to Al-Ahram Weekly since Egypt called for the extraordinary summit in February to secure a collective Arab stance against the Trump plan. According to the sources, three issues prompted the most intense debates. The first was the feasibility of the Egyptian proposal to launch a reconstruction plan that does not require the population to be moved. The budget for reconstruction was also contested, with some countries taking issue with investing funds in reconstruction given that they anticipate it is only a matter of time before Hamas and other militant resistance factions engage in a new operation that Israel will seize on as a pretext to restart the war. The sources said that as far as the Arab Gulf states are concerned, there are no guarantees that an Israeli attack on Gaza will not take place sooner rather than later. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has issued repeated threats to resume the bombardment of Gaza if Hamas does not release the remaining Israeli hostages and bodies of hostages, irrespective of any Israeli decision to delay negotiations over the start of the second phase of the truce which was supposed to start this week. According to one source, Qatar, and to a lesser extent Kuwait, were willing to pitch in funds, at least for the first segment of the over $50 billion reconstruction plan, but neither Saudi Arabia nor the UAE, whose leaders absented themselves from the Cairo summit, were willing to move forward with any serious reconstruction investment in the absence of guarantees that the money would not be wasted given the possibility of future confrontations between the militant Palestinian resistance and Israel. Other Arab states, including Algeria, decided to skip the summit to protest against what Algeria qualified as inadequate Arab consultation on the issues being discussed. Sources explained that what the Arab Gulf countries, especially the UAE, want is the total demilitarisation of all militant resistance movements, and a commitment from them to peaceful, non-armed resistance. Reaching a compromise on the issues of reconstruction and a demilitarised resistance proved impossible, say sources. What emerged from the pre-summit rounds of high-level talks, including a limited Arab meeting that convened in Saudi Arabia a little over a week ago, was language that recognises the need to restart a political process, the importance of a prompt reconstruction plan and a general commitment on the part of Arab states to support such a plan, but little else. 'Let's be frank. There are so many differing views on the handling of the Palestinian situation that reaching any consensus is a very difficult task,' said the Egyptian source. He added that different Arab countries have different views and different levels of commitment. The good thing, he argued, is that no Arab state is willing to go against the semi-collective Arab refusal of any plan that involves the forceful expulsion of Gazans, as the Trump plan proposes. Sources agreed that the Arab states differed over the composition of the political entity to be responsible for running Gaza, and its possible association with the Palestinian Authority (PA). In some Arab capitals, including many Arab Gulf countries, the PA is seen as inefficient and politically redundant. Other disagreements focused on economic plans for the future of Gaza and the extent to which the proposal put together by Egypt is based on massive Arab investments without sufficient guarantees about the political stability of Gaza. The language reached during the Arab foreign ministers meeting that convened in Cairo on Monday evening, though at times opaque and a bit too general, was the strongest possible, say sources. They also argue that there was no option but to pursue a consensual plan and say it will now be proposed for discussion with the US, Israel, and other international partners. According to the Egyptian source, Cairo is already in consultation with Washington over possible high-level meetings to decide the next move. Hamas welcomed the communiqué and said in a statement that it represented a collective Arab rejection to the plan to forcibly displace Gazans. For its part, the Israeli Foreign Ministry issued a statement that rejected the communiqué as 'delusional'. * A version of this article appears in print in the 6 March, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link: