The Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, has been specific: he will not allow the opening of his side of the Rafah border crossing not even for the evacuation of foreign citizens from the Gaza Strip "in the face of Israeli intransigence."
Al Sisi, who received German Chancellor Olaf Scholz this Wednesday, stressed that it was not Egypt's will to keep the Farah Pass closed, but the Israeli army bombed its surroundings at least four times, the last last Monday. “What is happening in Gaza is an attempt to force civilian residents to seek refuge and emigrate to Egypt, something that should not be accepted.”
Al Sisi has not spared explanations this time, highlighting the Egyptian position: accepting the mass entry of Gazans would mean a displacement of the Palestinian population towards their country, which, in addition, "would lead to a similar displacement" in the West Bank towards the neighboring country, Jordan, so that “a Palestinian State would be impossible.”
Al Sisi thus made clear the old fears of both Egypt and the Palestinians, Israel's hypothetical intention to turn the Palestinians into refugees in both countries, which in the case of Gaza could imply a new occupation - physically speaking - of the territory by Israel. “If I ask Egyptians to express themselves, then you will see millions of Egyptians willing to show their rejection of the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza,” he said.
His Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry, commented: “If they ask me to house 2.5 million – Gazans are estimated to be 2.3 million – they can ask the United Kingdom or any member country of the European Union to adopt this same policy.” Shoukry recalled that Egypt already hosts nine million refugees, not only Palestinians but also from African countries.
From Beirut, a Hamas representative, Osama Hamdan, validated the Egyptian position and asked that it be supported at a popular and official level by Arab countries "because it represents real protection of our Palestinian people."
From another point of view, a massive influx of refugees into the Sinai could pose a security risk for Egypt and a source of instability, given that terrorist activity on the peninsula has never ceased. Al Sisi was also frank in this regard: if the Sinai “becomes a base to launch operations against Israel, in that case Israel will have the right to defend itself, so it will direct its attacks against Egyptian soil.” It must be remembered that Egypt was the first Arab country to sign peace with Israel, in 1979, followed by Jordan in 1994.
What the Egyptian Government is not opposed to at all, but on the contrary, is the passage of humanitarian aid to Gaza through Rafah. Up to 115 trucks loaded with food, water and medicine are waiting in the city of El Arish, about forty kilometers from the Strip. Minister Shoukry noted that during the Rafah bombings four Egyptian workers were injured precisely when they were trying to repair some damage. The bombings followed the Israeli indication that the Gazans should head to the south of the Strip and specifically to Rafah.
Today, Wednesday, thousands of students demonstrated at Egyptian universities in Cairo and Alexandria against the Israeli bombings of the Strip. In the capital, the protest reached the surroundings of the United States embassy. Precisely this Wednesday Al Sisi had to meet in Amman with Joe Biden, King Abdullah of Jordan and Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, a meeting that was ruined by the explosion at the Al Ahli hospital in Gaza City that caused hundreds of deaths. .
