2023-06-03 14:16:38
Cairo begins consultations with the factions… “calm” and “support for Gaza” are on the table
Cairo is preparing to receive a number of Palestinian faction leaders, in the coming days, to hold consultations with Egyptian security officials. With the aim of stabilizing the calm in the Gaza Strip, while Egyptian and Palestinian sources and observers talked about a “broad and multi-item agenda” for the factional consultations in Cairo, all of them centered on Egyptian efforts to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people, on the security and economic levels.
An informed Egyptian source told Asharq Al-Awsat, on condition of anonymity, that a large delegation from the Islamic Jihad movement arrived in Cairo on Thursday. To start the consultations, and that the delegation, headed by Ziad Nakhaleh, who is coming from outside the Strip, will lead her delegation, while the delegation of the “Hamas” movement, headed by Ismail Haniyeh, head of the movement’s political bureau, will arrive within hours.
The media office of the “Jihad” movement had stated, in a statement, that a delegation from the movement, including members of the political bureau, and a number of leaders, left Thursday afternoon for Cairo, without providing additional details.
The Egyptian source confirmed that Cairo will focus, in these consultations, on the security file, and that it seeks to confirm that “the current calm is unstable,” and that the outbreak of armed confrontations “could happen at any time, in light of the current Israeli government’s composition.”
The current round of consultations for the factions of the Gaza Strip comes only two days after the Palestinian Prime Minister, Muhammad Shtayyeh, concluded a 3-day official visit to Cairo, at the head of a ministerial delegation that included 9 ministers, in which he met his Egyptian counterpart, Mustafa Madbouly, and a number of Egyptian officials, and they discussed strengthening bilateral relations. .
The source indicated that the consultations that Cairo is conducting have already begun during the visit of Shtayyeh, who holds the position of a member of the Central Committee of the “Fatah” movement, where he met with prominent security officials in Egypt, and they discussed Egypt’s efforts to maintain calm in the occupied territories, and the contacts it is making. Cairo with the various parties to confront the situation slipping into open confrontations in the Gaza Strip, and a set of ideas related to achieving Palestinian national consensus, and ways to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian citizens in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, were discussed.
The source expected that the consultations would include a larger number of Palestinian factions, during the coming times, as it is expected that the invitation will also be directed to the “Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine” (General Command) and the “Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.”
Last February, Egypt hosted an expanded round of consultations, in which the leaders of the “Hamas” and “Jihad” movements participated, and focused on controlling security in the Gaza Strip, and not letting the Palestinian factions fall behind Israeli provocations.
Dr. Tariq Fahmy, a professor of political science at Cairo University, considered that the presence of a large delegation from the “Jihad” movement to consult with Egyptian officials “reflects the seriousness of the Egyptian proposal and the movement’s confidence in what Egypt is offering to support the steadfastness of the Palestinian people.”
Fahmy stressed, in his statements to Asharq Al-Awsat, that Cairo’s success in stopping the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip every time the conflict erupted “reinforces the confidence of the Palestinian factions that Cairo is the only party in the region capable of providing an umbrella of safety for the Palestinian citizens.” Especially in the Gaza Strip, in light of the irresponsible practices of a strict government that does not respond to regional and international efforts, and resorts to continuous escalation.
He pointed out that part of the efforts that Cairo will make during the current consultations is related to bringing the points of view between the “Jihad” and “Hamas” movements closer together, especially in light of some of the criticisms that came out from elements in the “Jihad” for the lack of “Hamas” participation in the two confrontations. The last two against the Israeli occupation army.
Fahmy ruled out that the current consultations would touch on the file of Palestinian reconciliation, or the file of deals on the exchange of prisoners, considering that these two files “require the creation of an atmosphere of trust, whether between the Palestinian parties or between the Israeli authorities,” which “is not currently available,” as he put it. .
Regarding the significance of Cairo hosting the factional consultations, two days after the visit of the Palestinian Prime Minister, Fahmy considered this an “eloquent message” from Cairo confirming its openness to the various Palestinian parties. From the authority and the factions, and that its support for the Palestinian cause includes all parties, and he also considered the matter a message to regional parties that he did not name, but he described them as “wanting to tamper with the Palestinian file,” and confirms Egypt’s ability to communicate and contain all Palestinian parties without distinction.
Dr. Ayman Al-Raqab, a professor of political science at Al-Quds University and a leader in the “Fatah” movement, said that the new round of consultations of the Palestinian factions in Cairo “may carry more than the security file.”
Al-Raqab explained to Asharq Al-Awsat that “there are ideas that have begun to surface about the existence of a proposal to form a temporary Palestinian (technocratic) government for a year, which will supervise the holding of Palestinian parliamentary and presidential elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and that the matter enjoys regional support, and can In the event that it is crystallized, agreement on procedural mechanisms to implement it on the ground, so that the government takes over all arrangements for holding elections, removing manifestations of division, and after that it is possible to proceed towards completing the rest of the national reconciliation procedures.
It is noteworthy that Egypt brokered a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, on May 12, after several days of confrontations between the “Jihad” movement and the Israeli occupation army, following the latter’s assassination of 5 of the movement’s leaders. The agreement stipulated “commitment to the ceasefire, which includes stopping targeting civilians, demolishing homes, and stopping targeting individuals.”
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