FM: Egypt supports establishment of Palestinian state

Egypt supports the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, Egyptian foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry, said yesterday.

“The Egyptian government supports the establishment of a Palestinian state on the borders of the land that was captured by Israel in 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital,” Shoukry told Arab foreign ministers in an Arab League meeting in Cairo.

On the recent Israeli settlement activities, he stressed that his country’s stance was “consistent and unchanged,” adding that the settlements were “illegal and violate the international law.”

On Monday, the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, said that Washington was backing Israel’s right to build Jewish settlements on the occupied West Bank, saying that it was “not inconsistent with international law.”

The announcement – which was condemned by Palestinians, Arab governments and the European Union (EU) – marked the third primary instance in which the US administration has sided with Israel and against international law even before unveiling its long-delayed Israeli-Palestinian peace plan.

In 2017, the US President Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and, while in 2018, Washington formally opened an embassy in the city. And in March, Trump recognised Israel’s 1981 annexation of the Golan Heights in a boost for the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that prompted a sharp response from Syria, whose land it is under international law.

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