Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met with a Palestinian delegation Tuesday to discuss developments in Palestine and the efforts to reconstruct the Gaza Strip.
The delegation was headed by Yasser Wadia, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). Wadia gave Shoukry a detailed presentation about the economic and political situation in the Palestinian territories in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The Gaza Strip has been suffering the aftermath of the 2014 war launched against it by Israel. The conflict, which took place over a period of 51 days, left the infrastructure of the strip severely damaged.
The West Bank on the other hand is suffering an increase in illegal settlement activity on Palestinian territories. During the meeting, Wadia also presented the continuous measures for “Judaisation of Jerusalem” undertaken by Israeli settlers.
Shoukry previously stressed the “critical importance to stop settlement activity in the occupied territories”, when he received the envoys of the Quartet on the Middle East to discuss the peace process between Israel and Palestine.
Egypt has been backing Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas in efforts to acquire statehood and peace with Israel. It also backed the Palestinian move to join the International Criminal Court (ICC) to hold Israel accountable for war crimes.
Following the Gaza war, Egypt brokered the open-ended ceasefire between Palestine and Israel. Egypt and Norway co- hosted the Gaza Reconstruction Conference in Cairo last October.
However, progress in the reconstruction process since the conference is “too slow”, according to a June briefing to the UN Security Council.
