CAIRO: Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Friday appeared to discredit the moribund Israel-Palestinian peace process and instead called on the international community to recognise the Palestinian state.

During a joint news conference with the prime ministers of Spain and Belgium in Cairo, Sisi said reviving the process aimed at ending the Israel-Palestinian issue “may not be what is required”.

“The results of this path faltering for 30 years tells us that we must” adopt a different approach, he said.

This would entail “the recognition of the Palestinian state by the international community and bringing it into the United Nations… This would show seriousness,” Sisi added.

He pointed to the high civilian death toll in successive Gaza crisis, saying the unrest erupted because the “political horizons for resolving the Palestinian cause always failed” to fulfil the Palestinians’ aspirations.

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2023