Cairo, Nov 4 (EFE).- France and Egypt will work to achieve “immediate” ceasefires in Lebanon and Gaza, and the sending of urgent humanitarian aid to civilians, the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot and his Egyptian counterpart Badr Abdelatty held a telephone call in which they “reviewed in detail the developments in Lebanon, as they outlined the two countries’ efforts to reach an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon, and provide urgent relief aid under the exacerbating humanitarian crisis,” the statement said.
Barrot and Abdelatty stressed the importance of “all parties” to the Lebanese conflict implementing UN Security Council resolution 1701 “with no selectivity.”
The resolution, which ended the 2006 Lebanon war between Israel and Hezbollah, stipulates the deployment of the Lebanese army in the south of the Arab country, in place of Hezbollah, and the disarmament of the group.
The two ministers also reviewed the “ongoing efforts aimed at reaching an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and delivering humanitarian aid in view of the dire humanitarian situation.”
Abdelatty also “reiterated Egypt’s categorical rejection of the escalating Israeli measures that aim to obstruct humanitarian aid access, and asserted the importance of empowering the Palestinian Authority, putting an end to the Israeli occupation, addressing the root causes of the conflict, and establishing an interconnected and territorially contiguous Palestinian state on the June 4, 1967 lines with East Jerusalem as its capital,” the statement added.
Egypt, a key mediator between Israel and Hamas, has in recent weeks intensified its contact with the Palestinian factions, especially Hamas and Fatah, the main member of the Palestinian National Authority, to reach an understanding on the administration of Gaza after Israel’s war on the enclave ends.
According to Egyptian sources close to the negotiations that Hamas and Fatah held last week in Cairo, both groups have brought their positions closer together on the future management of Gaza through the creation of a “community support committee” affiliated with the PNA.
Hamas has controlled Gaza since it expelled PNA forces from the enclave in 2007 after a civil conflict, and the PNA has since governed the West Bank. EFE
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