About three weeks have passed since the IDF’s “Shield and Arrow” operation against the Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip and Egypt is trying to stabilize the situation of calm in the Gaza Strip and reach agreements with the Palestinian factions on a long-term calm on the border with Israel, this is also an Egyptian interest that has a positive effect on the stability of the Egyptian regime .
The most senior delegations of the Hamas movement led by Ismail Haniyeh and the Islamic Jihad movement led by Ziad Al-Nakhala arrived in Cairo for talks with the senior Egyptian intelligence officials who initiated the meetings.
Also, for the first time, a delegation of members of the new leadership of the military wing of the Islamic Jihad (“Saraya Al-Quds”) participated in the meeting with Egyptian intelligence, this leadership replaced the six senior members of the military wing who were assassinated by the IDF during Operation “Shield and Arrow”.
A Hamas delegation led by Ismail Haniyeh met with the Egyptian Minister of Intelligence, Abbas Kamel, who conveyed a message from Israel that it is not interested in a military confrontation in the Gaza Strip.
In response, the Hamas leadership warned that the right-wing government’s actions in Jerusalem and the Temple Mount are “dangerous” and could lead to renewed escalation.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh conveyed a message to Israel through Egyptian intelligence that a major military operation by the IDF in northern Samaria against the armed terror groups would lead to an escalation.
The leadership of Hamas discussed with the Egyptian intelligence about the economic and humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and demanded to approve the export of new goods through the Rafah crossing to Egypt, the PA is trying to sabotage the export of goods from the Gaza Strip to Egypt and the Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Ishtayah raised the demand to stop the export of goods from the Gaza Strip during his last visit to Cairo .
The leadership of Hamas also met with the leadership of the Islamic Jihad to discuss relations between the two movements after Hamas sat on the fence during the “Shield and Arrow” operation and did not participate in the fighting against the IDF forces.
Officials in the Islamic Jihad said that it was agreed to increase the cooperation between Hamas and the Islamic Jihad and not to allow Israel to drive a wedge between the two movements.
A proposal for Palestinian reconciliation
The newspaper “A-Sharq Alawsat” reported on June 6th that Egyptian intelligence submitted a proposal to Hamas and Islamic Jihad to establish together with the Palestinian Authority a “technocratic government” that would oversee within a year the holding of general elections for the parliament and the presidency in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad expressed their agreement in principle to the proposal, but claimed that PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas is not interested in the elections and will try to sabotage them.
Egypt is once again mediating between the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip and Israel and between them and the PA, the Egyptians were surprised by the behavior of the Islamic Jihad which violated the calm and launched a hundred rockets towards Sderot in response to the suicide of the Palestinian terrorist Hader Adnan in the Israeli prison, which led to Operation “Shiled and Arrow” of the IDF against the Islamic Jihad.
The Egyptians are trying to prevent the recurrence of such behavior in the future on the part of Hamas or the Islamic Jihad and made it clear to both sides the need to meet their commitments to calm in exchange for economic and humanitarian relief from Israel and Egypt.
It is very doubtful whether the Islamic Jihad will keep its promises to Egypt, Ziad Al-Nakhala made it clear in talks with the Egyptian intelligence that his organization is determined to continue the opposition to Israel and will not allow it to cross the “red lines”, we must also not forget that the Islamic Jihad seeks to avenge the death of 6 senior commanders of his military wing who were assassinated by Israel in the last round of fighting.
Egypt estimates that it will be able to restore calm in the Gaza Strip to the same situation it was in before the “Shield and Arrow” operation, but there are no guarantees that the Islamic Jihad, which is subject to instructions from Iran, will act according to Egyptian interests.
