European capitals are scrambling to avoid a clash with Middle Eastern powers over the Israel-Hamas war, sparked by a peace summit in Cairo on Saturday that risks exposing stark divisions over the conflict.
Egypt’s president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has invited leaders of more than a dozen states to discuss the crisis, but European leaders are split over whether to skip the event given the push from leading Arab states for a summit declaration that demands a ceasefire.
The draft summit declaration makes no reference to Israel’s right to self-defence, and does not explicitly criticise Hamas, the militant group that attacked Israel on October 7, according to people briefed on the document.
Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz will not attend, while France’s Emmanuel Macron was still evaluating whether to do so, people briefed on their plans told the FT.
Macron said on Tuesday that he would travel to Israel and the region in the coming “days or weeks” only if there were a way for the trip to help “obtain a concrete agreement on non-escalation, humanitarian aid, or the general situation”.
French officials were still debating on Friday whether Macron should go to Cairo, given the risks of being associated with criticism of Israel or of the summit failing to produce any significant outcome.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni would attend the summit, officials in Rome said on Friday. The UK is sending foreign minister James Cleverly rather than prime minister Rishi Sunak.
Annalena Baerbock, the German foreign minister, said the summit’s participants were united by a desire “to ensure this doesn’t turn into a regional conflagration”. It would be an “opportunity to make clear that terrorism doesn’t benefit anyone in this region”, she said.
But she said it was clear that the countries taking part “have had a very different view of this situation in the past few days”.
German officials said the Cairo talks would be “difficult”, but Berlin hoped that consultations on the sidelines could at least result in a “solution to the problem of the Rafah border crossing” between Gaza and Egypt that would allow “humanitarian aid to enter the strip and dual nationals to get out”.
The crossing has been at the centre of frantic negotiations after Israel cut off supplies of electricity, food and fuel to the strip following Hamas’ devastating attack on Israel on October 7, resulting in what aid groups have called a looming humanitarian disaster.
Hamas killed more than 1,400 people in its assault and injured over 3,500, according to Israeli officials; while at least 203 were taken hostage. Israeli bombardments of the strip have since killed more than 4,100 people and injured more than 13,100, Palestinian officials said.
Diplomats said that western leaders were hesitant in part because of a desire not to breach the EU’s agreed common position that Israel has a right to respond to Hamas’ attack, within international law.
“You can be certain many other EU member states present, as well as like-minded partners, won’t and can’t sign up to a declaration that is in contradiction to the EU position,” said one senior European diplomat involved in the negotiations, who added that discussions on the Cairo summit declaration were still ongoing.
Greece’s prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Cyprus president Nikos Christodoulides were planning to attend, the people said, alongside EU council president Charles Michel. They were set to be joined by the EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell.
“Efforts are taking place for a common statement,” a second EU diplomat involved in the negotiations told the FT, adding that they were “slightly sceptical that an agreement can be reached on a statement that can capture the interests of all parties”.
Non-European states expected to attend include Qatar, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Iraq, plus the UN secretary-general António Guterres.
The EU’s 27 leaders, who in the first days of the conflict bickered over the right response, this week agreed a joint position statement which “strongly emphasise[s] Israel’s right to defend itself in line with humanitarian and international law”.
Sisi wanted to discuss “the current developments and the future of the Palestinian cause and the peace process”, said people briefed on the event’s outline, and how “to contain the current crisis in a way that spares the region and the world of its repercussions”.
“A draft under negotiation is certainly not a reason to cancel participation at an important meeting that gives an opportunity to pass clear messages and convey the EU position,” said a third European diplomat.
Additional reporting by Lucy Fisher in London