CAIRO: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday in Cairo that a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza would be the best way to stop violence from spreading in the Middle East.
This marks Blinken’s 10th trip to the region since the start of the war that was sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.
His visit aimed to salvage stalled negotiations mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States to end the conflict.
No other regional stops, including Israel, were on his itinerary.
“We discussed the importance of getting this deal across the finish line, something we’ll continue to pursue with our Qatari counterparts,” Blinken told journalists in a joint press conference alongside Egyptian Foreign Minister Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty.
“We all know that a ceasefire is the best chance to tackle the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, to address risks to regional stability,” he added.
Following the meeting with Blinken, El-Sisi’s office said the pair discussed “ways to intensify joint efforts between Egypt, the US and Qatar to make progress on ceasefire negotiations and the exchange of hostages and detainees.”
El-Sisi also called for “decisive intervention to remove obstacles to the entry of huge amounts of aid” to Gaza and “ending Israeli violations in the West Bank,” it said.
Violence has surged in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since the war broke out in Gaza, with Israel conducting large-scale raids in recent weeks.
Blinken arrived in Cairo hours after hundreds of pagers used by Hezbollah members exploded almost simultaneously across Lebanon on Tuesday, killing 12 people and wounding more than 2,750 others.
Blinken denied reports the United States prior any knowledge or involvement in the attack which Hezbollah has blamed on Israel, the key US ally. Israel has yet to comment on the blasts.
“With regard to Lebanon, the United States did not know about, nor was it involved in these incidents, and we’re still gathering information and gathering the facts,” he said in Cairo.
“Broadly speaking, we’ve been very clear and we remain very clear about the importance of all parties avoiding any steps that could further escalate the conflict.”
US news site Axios said that minutes before the attack, Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called his US counterpart Lloyd Austin and informed him of an imminent operation in Lebanon, without giving any details.
After months of clashes along its northern border with Lebanon, Israel on Tuesday said it was broadening the aims of the war against Hamas to include its fight against Hezbollah.
While in Cairo, Blinken also discussed strengthening US-Egyptian relations.
After Cairo, Blinken is due to head to Paris to brief his French, British and Italian counterparts.
Blinken says Gaza truce best way to ensure regional stability
https://arab.news/2ztcb
Blinken says Gaza truce best way to ensure regional stability
- This marks Blinken’s 10th trip to the region since the start of the war that was sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel
- Blinken denied reports the United States prior any knowledge or involvement in the attack which Hezbollah has blamed on Israel
Philanthropy can unlock investment and drive global impact, says UAE’s Badr Jafar
DAVOS: Philanthropy has the power not only to do great good, but to do so in a way that stimulates additional capital investment from business and government sources, Emirati businessman Badr Jafar told Arab News on the sidelines at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Jafar knows a thing or two about the subject. In addition to his roles as CEO of Crescent Enterprises, a multifaceted business operating across nine sectors in 15 countries, and chairman of Gulftainer, the largest privately owned container-port operator in the world, he is special envoy for business and philanthropy for the UAE, holds multiple advisory positions in the humanitarian and development sectors and co-founded the Arab World Social Entrepreneurship Program.
“The term philanthropy itself conjures up this image of the sort of billionaire donor who has lots of money to give away, and I don’t like that,” he said.
It is problematic, Jafar said, because far from simply flinging money around in the hope that some of it sticks, many philanthropists operate in a far more sophisticated way.
“Capital today is a continuum, and impact is also a continuum,” he said.
“And the sooner we start to see the benefits of alignment of capital across government, business and philanthropy, the sooner we can start to reap the rewards that come with the multiplier effect that’s generated when these pools of capital work better together.”
Philanthropy, he said, is “the forgotten child of the capital system, regarded in some parts of the world as a peripheral player, and in other parts regarded with a high degree of suspicion.”
In fact, in its best form philanthropy can act as a catalyst: “Philanthropic capital, often referred to as catalytic capital, can help to de-risk and crowd in other sources of capital, particularly from the business sector. There are many examples from around the world where donated capital without any intended financial return goes in to unlock opportunities for businesses, including in tech.”
He also feels the sheer scale of philanthropic capital is seriously under-appreciated.
“Take the US example. The recent reductions in USAID was a shock to the system. But to put things into perspective, at its peak in about 2023 USAID was less than $50 billion a year. Now that’s a significant amount of money, but private philanthropy alone in the US in that same year — and to clarify, this is excluding corporate philanthropy — was well north of $600 billion.
“Now I’m not suggesting that private philanthropy is a substitute for official development assistance — aid from government, and the nature of aid from government, is extremely important, particularly in certain settings, including humanitarian.
“But today global philanthropy is pushing $2 trillion a year, more than three times the global humanitarian and development aid budgets, and that’s a lot of money.”
Jafar is the author of “The Business of Philanthropy: Perspectives and Insights from Global Thought Leaders on How to Change the World,” a collection of discussions with 50 of the world’s most active philanthropists, including Microsoft founder Bill Gates, the Bulgarian economist and managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, and Razan Al-Mubarak, head of the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi and president of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The title of the book, he said “was purposefully provocative, getting people to think about what the business world has to learn from philanthropy and what philanthropists have to learn from the business world.”
Through the examples, insights and experiences of his high-profile interviewees, he makes the case for what he calls “strategic philanthropy,” in the hope that others may be inspired to follow in their footsteps.
“The need for strategic philanthropy in the world today,” he writes, “is greater than ever. The geological fractures that constitute the headlines every day — regional conflicts, political extremism, and the resulting refugee and humanitarian crises — are compounded by environmental challenges.
“Public- and private-sector leaders in all countries are grappling with these issues daily. More than ever, strategic philanthropists across the world have an opportunity to step up to help meet those challenges.”
Jafar grew up in Sharjah, in a family “with a strong belief in giving back to the community.” The book is dedicated to his mother and father, “who taught me everything I know and are still working on teaching me everything they know.”
All royalties from the sale of Badr Jafar’s book are donated to the International Rescue Committee, in support of children affected by armed combat.
