Cairo and Ramallah on Saturday discussed preparations underway to mobilize international support for the Palestinian Authority during the upcoming International Donors Conference next week.

These consultations coincided with Egyptian-European talks aimed at 'creating international support that backs the Palestinian Authority, not only in terms of funding, but also in consolidating the existence of a future independent Palestinian state, despite the ongoing Israeli escalation,' according to Mohamed Hegazy, member of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs and former assistant foreign minister, in an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry reported on Saturday that Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatti had a phone call with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa, during which the two sides exchanged views on developments in the Gaza Strip. The call also covered ongoing preparations for the donor conference scheduled to be held in Brussels this July.

Abdelatti affirmed 'Egypt's full support for the Palestinian government and the importance of mobilizing international financial support for the Palestinian National Authority to enable it to fulfill its responsibilities, provide basic services to the Palestinian people, contribute to strengthening their resilience, and support stability in the Palestinian territories.'

Hegazy believes that 'the preparations for the Brussels meeting on mobilizing international support for the Palestinian Authority come at a pivotal moment in Middle East developments, where the paths of a ceasefire in Gaza, US efforts to launch new security and regional arrangements, and Arab endeavors to restore the Palestinian cause as the true gateway to regional stability intersect.'

He emphasizes that reducing the donor conference to merely an occasion to provide financial aid to the Palestinian Authority strips it of much of its strategic significance, noting that the importance of the Brussels conference goes beyond funding, making it a clear political message that the international community still views the Palestinian Authority as the legitimate institution capable of managing the Palestinian territories, along with a parallel message to Israel that weakening the Palestinian Authority is no longer an acceptable option.

About a week ago, the European Union spokesman in Jerusalem, Shadi Othman, told Voice of Palestine radio that preparations had begun for the International Donors Conference on July 12, aimed at mobilizing support for the two-state solution and financial backing for the National Authority.

Those remarks came a day after the European Commissioner for Mediterranean Affairs, Dubravka Šuica, visited Ramallah as part of a regional tour to discuss the European-Palestinian partnership and the current situation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

A girl rests on a rope securing a tent in a temporary camp for displaced Palestinians in the Al-Bared area of Khan Younis.

The Palestinian Prime Minister at the time stressed to Šuica that 'the financial and economic siege poses a serious threat to the continuity of Palestinian institutions, as Israel continues to illegally withhold Palestinian tax revenues, amounting to about $6 billion, in addition to freezing another $5 billion of Palestinian bank funds that the Israeli central bank refuses to accept, costing the Palestinian economy losses of up to $11 billion annually.'

The Palestinian cause was present at the table of political consultations between the Egyptian Foreign Minister and the European Commissioner for the Mediterranean, Dubravka Šuica, according to a statement by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry on Saturday.

Abdelatti affirmed 'the importance of refocusing international efforts on the Palestinian cause, to create conditions for the full implementation of the first phase requirements of US President Donald Trump's peace plan - which began in October 2023 - and moving to the second phase.'

Meanwhile, Hegazy believes that the Egyptian and European moves confirm that supporting the Palestinian Authority has become part of the equation for rebuilding the region, not just a response to a financial crisis, considering that one cannot talk about a more stable Middle East while Palestinian institutions collapse, nor can long-term economic and security alliances be built while the Gaza Strip remains devastated.

The Egyptian role emerges as the most consistent with the requirements of the stage; since the outbreak of the war, Cairo has refused to separate the humanitarian track from the political track. It emphasized that a ceasefire must be coupled with a reconstruction plan, empowering the Palestinian Authority, preserving the unity of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, rejecting displacement, and launching a serious political process leading to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. Today, Egypt moves in the same direction by supporting the Brussels conference as a foundational step that paves the way for a larger international conference for the reconstruction of Gaza once the ceasefire is consolidated, according to Hegazy.

The member of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs stressed that the real challenge lies not in collecting billions of dollars, but in building an international will that transforms these resources into a historic opportunity to relaunch the Palestinian national project, revive the two-state solution, and reintegrate the Palestinian cause into the core of new regional security arrangements.

He explained that the upcoming conference will either be the beginning of a transition from 'conflict management' to 'peace building', from 'temporary relief' to 'sustainable development', from reactions to an integrated strategic vision, or it will remain just a passing financial stop in the series of recurring crises.