 Let me start by the only female on our panel, Dr. Muna Makramubayt, she doesn't need an introduction. She is Egyptian senator, advisor to the UN High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations for my member of the parliament. She will be giving us an overview of the main political, economical, social changes in the region, facing the region at large, and probably she might focus on Egypt. And what would be the appropriate unit is whenever there are challenges, there are appropriate units too. And Dr. Muna, you have 15 minutes to have your introductory remarks, please. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I feel very honored to have to be next to you now. And unfortunately, I'm not an economist. I am a political scientist and so I will approach more my subject in a political sense with social transformation happening in Egypt. So let me first start by Egypt and how much this crisis, this Gaza crisis, this Palestine crisis has affected Egypt, has affected the whole Arab world and the whole world in fact from watching the horrific images that we see on television. But what I can say also is that the turmoil in Gaza is not entirely a bad thing for the regime of President Abdel Fattahis. In many respects, his government would be happy to see Israel eliminate Hamas, an organization that grew out of the Muslim Brotherhood hated by President Sisi, hated by the Arab, the Egyptian public opinion. The Egyptian public opinion, the Egyptians in general have seen what it is to have an Islamist regime trying to change the identity of the country, trying to make it an Islamist racist country and so on, forgetting what the Egypt really stands for, which is a secular, modern, democratic country. Now on the other hand, the Egyptian public today is outraged by the ongoing Israeli bombardment of Gaza and like most of its counterparts across the region, it prices stability over domestic accountability. Now in Egypt, the post-presidential elections as I just said in 2013 boiled down to a context between the military and the Brotherhood and in which a victory, which squeezed out a victory, but they proved the Muslim Brotherhood meaning, they proved to be incompetent and mostly mediocre and easily undermined by opponents both at home and abroad, particularly in the Gulf region, where who feared Islamist political movements. Now the removal of, he was called Morsi, the president at the time, his removal of office marked the end of Muslim Brotherhood rule. But for the moment, Egypt's refusal to admit Palestinian refugees, which is a big question, is a matter of principle, that many people don't understand. They think that Egypt is refusing humanitarian help, no. And so far there is any residual commitment in the Arab world to a solution of the Israeli conflict. They will never be anyone accepting to displace the Palestinian or Gazan community into Sinai. So economically, Egypt's long-standing dependence on full and food imports has bloated its foreign debt. It's working now economically. As bloated its foreign debts, thanks in part to the war in Ukraine, the COVID-19 and securing international financing has grown more costly and more domestic subsidies continue to drain government resources. The resulting economic crisis has led to several rounds of currency devaluation mandated by the International Monetary Fund and skyrocketing inflation, which is hurting not only the poor, but also the middle class, which is the main support of President Sisi. As you know, Egypt is going through presidential elections this month. So Egyptians is more than any Egyptian government, Egyptians, now that they put pressure on Egyptians to accept the Palestinian community into Sinai, the president has refused adamantly because it means the end of the Palestinian question if these people are displaced once more. So Egyptians, more than any Egyptian government, could not tolerate such a thing. Moreover, many Hamas militants would likely escape into Egypt, creating yet another headache for the authorities. That is why one of the other reasons that Egypt is refusing. For the moment, we are insisting that President Sisi is insisting that the United Nations, the European Union and others should help provide humanitarian assistance for the people in Gaza. I want to underline, do not underestimate General Sisi's role, because Egypt has maintained very good relations with Israel, but the government cannot survive what Israelis are doing in Gaza. People are getting very angry, but also the pressure on him to mobilize his army and go forward to fight to protest the Gazaians is refused. He is adamant in refusing the Gazaians into the Sinai, as I said, because this will mean the end of Palestinians and the two-state solution. Furthermore, the Palestinians in Sinai would create serious national security problems for the government of Egypt. Now let me add that there is a great feeling, no, this is not, and now that there is a shift, a rising tide, it's very interesting that every day things are changing. From yesterday to today, there is a change in the American attitude, whereas before they refused to have anything else but to protect Israel. Now they're saying there is a tide of public and private pressure from European, Latin American and other capitals, even the United States, that are pressuring Israel to allow humanitarian pauses and EU leaders have rejected the pleas from that brutal Netanyahu to lobby Egypt to open its border with Gaza and accept Palestinian refugees. This shift comes from the atrocities committed by Hamas to the pummeling of Gaza due to the magnitude of the Israeli assault. And now that we are hopefully approaching the day after, everyone is talking about the day after, let us speak to a former fatah strongman in the Gaza Strip and listen to his vision of the future, which I think is one of the most imaginative and creative vision. Once Israel's war on Hamas ends, he says, the Gaza Strip should be governed by a technocratic government for two years, as it is an illusion that any single individual could take over on his own. If you want you can remember what President Sadat said, Sadat's words when they offered him to take Gaza said no to more refugees. Now at the end of that period, which is the present war, which he believes would unify the splinted Palestinian factions, there should be elections based on a Palestinian state. This man I'm talking about is a former fatah leader. He's called Mohammed Dahlan. He's a name that you should remember. So there should be elections, he says, based on a Palestinian state without defined borders. The borderless state could be backed by Arab countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Republic and the United Arab Emirates. After that, there should be international recognition by Israel and a final agreement with Israel, international recognition by the Israeli, by the international community and a final agreement with Israel. The Hamas attack drew condemnation from many countries, yet Dahlan sees that this war is an opportunity that could bring a Palestinian state despite talks between Israel and Palestine and Palestine having, you know, the whole Palestinian Israeli question had died, nobody talked about it and now that there is this attack, everybody, all the world is talking about the Palestinian conflict. So Mr. Dahlan's vision is one of surprising hope amid the horrors of the fighting. Let us remember that he has connections, Mr. Dahlan has connections on all sides of the conflict with Israel, with Gaza people, with the Arabs, of course, and he also speaks very warmly of his relations with some senior Israeli figures. More immediately, Mr. Dahlan, who has returned from Egypt, has close ties with Egyptian President El Sisi and he has declared that he will not run for elections, but like all Arabs, you don't have to believe what he says. And yet he firmly sets out his credentials for leadership. He has become a close advisor to the ruler of Abu Dhabi. He believes that Israel has destroyed the two-state solution. Listen to that because this is what is quite new in his declaration. Everybody is talking about the two-state solution and who would accept and who would refuse. He believes that Israel has destroyed the two-state solution and now is the time, he says, to strive to achieve the one-state solution. The real problem lies in the Israeli occupation. So what I want to add at the end is one of the main things that we are asking for to end this Gaza saga is the liberation of the hostages. This is what all the international community is asking for and it is part of what Mr. Gargash has just said now in his speech and I believe that he is quite right and that the international community should get together for that. I think it is enough. I have said enough. I hope you will have questions for that because it's a new proposal to have somebody really come out with a suggestion. Thank you. Thank you so much for your insightful, deep thinking and for your energy at the end of the day. You are clear with your ideas. You are very energetic. She was preparing since the morning, early morning. And she is challenging everybody at this late hour. So please write all your questions. I don't have questions for the panel. I am relying on you to ask them questions. But you brought a lot of ideas on, you know, proposals, on economics. You said enough. I think you said, you know, issues of challenges to the region and to Egypt and thank you for your clarity and your intervention.