Egypt’s presidential spokesperson Ahmed Fahmy stamped down on rumors surrounding why the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, left the Cairo Summit for Peace, clarifying that the Emir simply had other obligations at the time.
During an interview with Ahmed Moussa’s TV show “Ala Massoulity” (On My Responsibility), Fahmy explanied, “There are no problems at all and there was great participation from the largest symbol in the state (of Qatar) , but there were arrangements he (the Emir) had in place.”
Fahmy stated that the Cairo summit witnessed the participation of a large number of world leaders, serving as strong evidence of Egypt’s pivotal role it plays in the region.
The Egyptian presidency also issued a statement at the conclusion of the summit in which it said that Egypt was looking forward “for the participants to launch a global call for peace in which they agree on the importance of re-evaluating the pattern of international dealing with the Palestinian issue over the past decades.”
The statement criticized “A gross failure in the international scene to find a just and lasting solution to the Palestinian issue over the past decades,” adding that “the ongoing war has revealed a defect in the values of the international community in dealing with crises.”
“While we see a rush and competition to quickly condemn the killing of innocent people in one place, we find an incomprehensible hesitation to condemn the same act in another place.”
At the conclusion of the statement, Egypt reaffirmed that it “Will never accept calls to liquidate the Palestinian issue at the expense of any country in the region, and will not relent for a moment in preserving its sovereignty and national security in light of circumstances and situations of increasing risks and threats.”