CAIRO: Palestinians are subjected to the worst kinds of human rights violations and the international community is unable to protect them, Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit has said. The Middle East has witnessed the most unjust incidents, the foreign minister added, and this continual occupation and injustice to the Palestinians and elsewhere around the world is feeding fanaticism of ideologies and ideas. Speaking at the Alliance of Civilizations Initiative meeting Sept. 26 in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, a ministry statement said that Aboul Gheit stated that "the Middle East witnesses the utmost unjust incidents in contemporary human history, where Palestinians still suffer under occupation, and are subjected to the worst kinds of human rights violations, yet the international community is unable to take any action to end this occupation or protect Palestinians from such abuses. This, Aboul Gheit concluded, "serves as a pretext for fanatics to spread and propagate their radical thoughts and ideas. Aboul Gheit also pointed a finger on the "continuous failure of the international community to handle the Palestinian situation, as well as other cases of occupation and injustice around the world. The minister summed up by saying that terrorism was not related to a specific culture or civilization, and "does not reflect tolerant precepts of any religion, therefore it was imperative that an alliance of civilizations occurred to combat terrorism, racism and hatred. Aboul Gheit felt it was important that third world countries fight poverty and underdevelopment which created fertile grounds for radicalism. During a meeting at the Council of Foreign Relations in New York earlier this week, Aboul Gheit had said that international efforts must be intensified to convince Palestinians that their future lies with the Palestinian Authority (PA) rather than Hamas. Aboul Gheit added that Hamas must be factored into the equation of any drive for a Palestinian peace process but that support must be given to the PA to win over the Palestinians. CEO of the Palestinian Ramattan News Agency Qassem Ali previously told Daily News Egypt that he hoped Egypt would take more of an initiative to restore peace between the two warring Palestinian factions. "Egypt's position is always a show of support for the Palestinian people but in the end it complies with Israeli wishes, which does what it wants. The Egyptian position towards Palestine is very important and there should be attempts to reconcile [Palestinian factions].
