What could convince Egypt to take in Gaza's refugees?
The Indicator from Planet Money
NPR
4.7 • 9.5K Ratings
🗓️ 19 October 2023
⏱️ 9 minutes
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Summary
Today, we explain how Egypt's rocky economy presents both a headwind and an opportunity for humanitarian talks in the Middle East and why this situation is testing the United States' economic and political influence.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | NPR. |
| 0:12.2 | During President Biden's trip to the Middle East this week, he spoke to Egyptian President |
| 0:16.3 | Abdul Fattar al-Sisi. |
| 0:18.5 | The two leaders agreed to open Egypt's border to aid trucks that were waiting to head into |
| 0:23.3 | Gaza. |
| 0:24.3 | Now, this is only a taster of what some of the West want, which is for Egypt to open |
| 0:29.3 | that border for people coming out of Gaza. |
| 0:32.6 | As of this taping on Thursday, Egypt has become one of the most crucial players in this |
| 0:37.1 | war. |
| 0:38.1 | As Israel focuses most of its attacks on northern Gaza, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians |
| 0:43.3 | are escaping to the southern part of the territory. |
| 0:46.6 | They're arriving to overcrowding, intermittent power, and scarce water. |
| 0:51.2 | And there's only one other country that's a possible option for any refugees that may |
| 0:55.5 | want to flee Gaza over land. |
| 0:58.0 | Egypt. |
| 0:59.0 | And Egypt's border is closed. |
| 1:01.3 | The financial times reported earlier this week that a senior Egyptian official told a European |
| 1:06.2 | official, quote, you want us to take a million people? |
| 1:09.4 | Well, I'm going to send them to Europe. |
| 1:12.0 | You care about human rights so much, well, you take them. |
| 1:15.9 | So given the stalemate, what diplomatic and economic tools does the U.S. have to open |
| 1:20.5 | the border? |
... |
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