Egypt’s top diplomat says his country’s plan to rebuild Gaza after 16 months of war is practical and can be achieved without forcing people to leave.
Badr Abdelatty was speaking after meeting with the Palestinian prime minister days ahead of an Arab summit in Cairo to announce the Egyptian plan.
The Israeli military campaign in Gaza has left the enclave in ruins.
“The only guarantee to break the cycle of violence and assaults is for a political horizon to be present and to give hope to the Palestinian people that their legitimate aspirations can be achieved — in establishing an independent state on all of their national soil,” said the foreign minister.
He added that Egypt’s reconstruction plan was a practical one with specific short-term timeframes that are “completely doable and achievable without the need to displace any citizens from their land”.
The Egyptian plan comes after US President Donald Trump proposed removing the entire Palestinian population of two million people and redeveloping Gaza as a property project.
Trump said the United States would take over the Gaza Strip and rebuild it into a “Riviera of the Middle East”, though Palestinians would not be allowed back.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa said Egypt’s plan was a step towards the formation of one Palestinian state, and that there was a need to unite Gaza and the West Bank.
“We will work on uniting the organisations, whether services, administrative, or security in order to form one state with one system, one law, and also one weapon,” he said.
He added that he had discussed this with Abdelatty and said he hoped that with the support of other Arab nations, these efforts would move forward and the summit would adopt the plan.
—africa news
