The chairman of the Palestinian Authority (PA), Mahmoud Abbas, held a summit meeting with President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi Sunday, 9 July, in Cairo in the midst of nationwide mourning in Egypt after one of the deadliest terrorist attacks against army positions south of Rafah on 7 July. The terrorist group known as the “Islamic State” claimed responsibility. Given the scope of the attack and its planning, in addition to the number of terrorists (120 according to press reports) and the heavy armaments they used, many Egyptians blame Hamas and demand the Rafah Crossing be closed for good. Rafah and Karm Abu Salem crossings are the only links between the Gaza Strip and the outside world on Egyptian borders. Shutting the crossings down would leave Egypt party God forbid — to the Israeli blockade of Gaza. The Cairo summit also comes in the wake of a marked improvement in relations between Egypt and Hamas wherein Cairo exported gas to Gaza to keep power stations running after Israel decreased the amount of electricity exported to Gaza upon the request of the PA. The Egyptian decision rankled PA officials to the extent that they demanded that Egypt desist from providing Gaza with gas. In the last few weeks, the US administration held talks with both the Israelis and the Palestinians in an attempt to bring the two sides to the negotiating table. From the outset, President Donald Trump promised and committed himself and his administration to help the Palestinians and the Israelis reach a “historic deal”. However, this deal, whose parameters are not known, so far (if they have been drafted already), is part of a larger “regional settlement” that the White House wants to work out with Israel, Jordan, Egypt, the member countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council, and the United States. This group of countries are supposed to constitute a front against Iran and its proxies in Middle East and the Gulf. Resolution of the Palestinian question will be one aspect of this “settlement”. It seems that both Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, for reasons that vary among the three parties, are ready to be a party to this American-Israeli-inspired regional master plan. One obstacle would be how to bring Hamas into the equation. For the Americans, Hamas is ranked as a terrorist organisation. President Trump, speaking to the Arab-Muslim-American Summit on 21 May in Riyadh said that much. The White House looks at Hamas as one of the regional proxies of Iran. This approach to Hamas could suit the PA but not Egypt. From the perspective of Egypt's national security, Hamas is part and parcel of the Palestinian national movement. In addition, it is the de facto political authority in the Gaza Strip. We have every reason to try to maintain good working relations with its leaders. We need their cooperation to seal, to the maximum possible, our borders with Gaza to prevent the smuggling of terrorists and arms into Sinai. The deadly attack of 7 July shows how much such a cooperation is badly needed. Egypt should not pay the price for the failure of Hamas and the PA to implement the Gaza Accord of April 2014 concerning the formation of a Palestinian government of national accord, nor their failure to organise legislative and presidential elections in Gaza and in the occupied Palestinian territories. Egypt should not take sides in inter-Palestinian political feuds, nor in the selection of who would succeed Abbas. PA officials suspect Cairo of working to push Mohamed Dahlan, a political foe of Abbas, to chair the authority at the next opportunity. Whether this is true or not, and I hope it is not, Chairman Abbas is said to be very upset and angry. Hopefully, the Cairo summit, earlier this week, would have assured him that Egypt won't interfere in the process of selecting his successor. However, Egypt will be well-served if the succession process itself is orderly, consensual among the Palestinians, and timely. The Egyptian-Palestinian summit took place at a time of great uncertainty in the Middle East and within the Palestinian national movement. All the more reason for a wise steering of Egyptian-Palestinian relations, which must be both defended, protected and shielded from adverse effects in these times of uncertainty.
