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CAIRO: The Arab League celebrated on Nov. 29 the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People with a high-level diplomatic and cultural event in Cairo.
The event was attended by many representatives of Arab countries and foreign diplomats in Cairo as well as a number of public figures.
Ahmed Aboul Gheit, secretary-general of the bloc, delivered an opening speech at the event, which also witnessed speeches by Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki, and representatives of the UN, Al-Azhar Al-Sharif and the Egyptian Church.
Aboul Gheit criticized the international community’s inaction over continued Israeli atrocities against the Palestinian people, including the killing of civilians by the occupation forces, the recent incursions and the unjust siege Israel has imposed on more than 2 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip for 15 years.
He specifically thanked the new Australian government for its reversal of a previous government’s decision to relocate the Israeli Embassy to Jerusalem.
He warned of the consequences of countries transferring their embassies to occupied Jerusalem and urged those that did to retract their decision, just like Australia.
Aboul Gheit called on the countries of the world to recognize the Palestinian state in order for it to obtain full membership in the UN.
He also appealed to the international community to support Palestinian diplomatic efforts to present the issue of occupation at the International Court of Justice, stressing that this path is what gives Palestinians hope that the world has not abandoned them.
Meanwhile, Al-Maliki gave a presentation on the dangers associated with the formation of a right-wing government in Israel and the negative repercussions this entails for the two-state vision.
Aboul Gheit emphasized the need to put the recent Algiers summit decisions into action by backing the Palestinians and confronting the Israeli extreme right.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the country stands with Palestine on the occasion of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People and will always support the Palestinian cause as the central issue of the Arab world.
The ministry stressed that Egypt’s position with regard to the Palestinian issue has not changed and will not change.
It is not conceivable that regional stability will be achieved in the Middle East without a just and comprehensive settlement of the issue on the basis of the two-state solution, it added.
Egypt stressed the need to put an end to the cycle of violence in the occupied Palestinian territories and to stop taking unilateral measures, foremost of which are illegal settlement activities, policies of eviction of Palestinians in Jerusalem, changes to the demographic character of the city and the division of Al-Aqsa Mosque and its surroundings, the statement said.
Egypt said it will, with the help of the international community, keep making unceasing and earnest efforts to restart the peace process and persuade parties to come together for negotiations.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry discussed with Al-Maliki the coordination of efforts at the regional and international levels to put the Palestinian cause back under the spotlight.
Shoukry expressed Egypt’s deep concern about developments in the occupied territories.
He said Egypt will always support the right of the Palestinian people to establish their own independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
In 1977, the UN General Assembly declared Nov. 29 the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.