In rare meeting, Egypt opposition parties reject any future alliances with Israel

Egyptian opposition parties announced their categorical rejection of any alliance with Israel over the weekend, despite the two countries having had diplomatic ties for decades.

The parties held a rare meeting on Saturday at the Karama (Dignity) Party headquarters in Cairo, named "The Conference of the National Committee in Support of Palestine to Reject the Policy of Military Alliances and Normalisation with the Zionist Enemy".

"Normalisation is not a paper that anyone can sign. Normalisation with the Zionist entity is corruption," said Arab Nasserist Party Chairman Mohamed Al-Nimr, adding that Palestine needed the backing of a strong Arab region.

General Coordinator of the Karama party, Mohamed Bayoumi, said he was not worried about such "unrealistic" alliances which "fail before they are even created."

Bayoumi added that it was up to the Arab peoples and not their regimes to bring down any "suspicious" alliances with Israel.

Karima al-Hafnawi from Egypt’s Socialist Party also voiced complete rejection to normalisation or alliances with Israel.

"We repeat it generation after generation, you are our enemy, Israel."

The parties’ comments come amid reports of a possible joint Arab-Israeli alliance to deter Iran’s growing influence in the region, something regional power Saudi Arabia denied was being planned.

The conference in Egypt took place on the same day of the US-Arab summit in Jeddah.

Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan said Sunday that there was "was absolutely no talk of a defence alliance between the Gulf states and Israel".

In recent months, there have also been reports of a possible normalisation deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel - something Riyadh has denied, saying any agreement depends on reaching an Israel-Palestine two-state solution.

Officials in Israel have said they are close to striking a deal with more countries in the region.

Israel formally established ties with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco in 2020, through the US-brokered Abraham Accords.