Foreign Minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit received on May 5th, 2009, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Mr. Robert Serry. The Spokesman for the Foreign Ministry stated that the meeting tackled the Middle East developments, including the developments on the Palestinian arena, particularly in relation to the Palestinian dialogue process and the Egyptian efforts to restore the Palestinian unity.
The Spokesman said that Aboul Gheit, during the meeting, expressed Egypt’s criticism to the serious Israeli policies in East Jerusalem and its surroundings. Such policies include house demolitions and inhabitants’ displacement, as well as the continuation of different settlement activities, which affects negatively the situation in Jerusalem and its surroundings. They also have crucial repercussions on security and stability, threatening the opportunity of establishing the independent Palestinian states and the two-state solution that Egypt and the international community seek to reach.The meeting tackled the humanitarian situations in Gaza Strip, as the Minister expressed his condemnation to the continuation of the unjust Israeli siege on Gaza, which hinder the partial restorations of the different buildings and houses, and seriously affect the civilians in the Strip, outlined the Spokesman. Aboul Gheit called upon the UN and the international community to exert efforts to put pressure on Israel to lift up the siege which is considered a main issue for the process of reconstruction.
The Spokesman added that Aboul Gheit affirmed to the UN Special Coordinator that the upcoming Ministerial meeting of Security Council on Middle East, expected to be held on May 11th, should be concluded with a strong stance supporting peace achievement efforts and clearly request the end of the Israeli occupation and the establishment of the Palestinian state. He asserted that it is not expected or accepted for the Security Council to stand helpless towards efforts of achieving peace in Middle East.