EU chief meets Egypt’s president to debate Israel-Hamas struggle

European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen has met Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi in Cairo for talks on the battle.

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He later stated that the EU opposes the “pressured displacement” of Palestinians within the Gaza Strip by Israel.

Von der Leyen additionally visited Sinai’s Al-Arish airport on Saturday, the place worldwide support has been accumulating for weeks, after which visited the Rafah border with Gaza.

Solely twin residents and a few significantly in poor health or injured Palestinians are allowed to flee Gaza by way of Rafah.

Not like many different wars, potential refugees have been prevented from fleeing to security as a result of all crossing factors out of Gaza are closed to them.

Egypt doesn’t desire a stream of refugees to go away Gaza by way of Rafah, and Israel controls all different border crossings outdoors the Strip that at the moment are closed.

Al-Sisi stated in October that Israel wished to completely expel Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan and subsequently reject Palestinian calls for for statehood. He stated a mass exodus would danger drawing militants into Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, from the place they might launch assaults on Israel, jeopardizing the 2 nations’ 40-year-old peace treaty.

historical past of displacement

Displacement has been a significant theme of Palestinian historical past. Within the struggle round Israel’s creation in 1948, an estimated 700,000 Palestinians had been both expelled from or fled from what’s now Israel. Palestinians name this occasion Nakba, Arabic for “disaster”.

Within the 1967 Mideast Warfare, when Israel captured the West Financial institution and Gaza Strip, greater than 300,000 Palestinians fled, most to Jordan.

Refugees and their descendants now quantity about six million, nearly all of whom dwell in camps and communities within the West Financial institution, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. The Indian diaspora has expanded additional, with many refugees making their lives within the Gulf Arab nations or the West.

After preventing stopped within the 1948 struggle, Israel refused to permit refugees to return to their properties. Since then, Israel has rejected Palestinian calls for for the return of refugees as a part of a peace deal, arguing that this might threaten the nation’s Jewish majority.

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