Egypt Backtracks on Closing the Rafah Crossing; What Is Going On Behind the Scenes?

On the sidelines of the current apathy between the Egyptian Intelligence and the Palestinian factions in Gaza represented by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), mysterious scenes have emerged for the role of the “Egyptian mediator” who appears to be biased towards the occupation in an “unreasonable” manner.

Palestinian and Egyptian sources told Al-Estiklal several details behind the scenes of the recent disputes between Egypt’s intelligence and the Gaza factions, which authorized Hamas to speak on their behalf, saying: “It seems that the relationship is heading towards a dead end.”

 

The sources talked about the scenes of Egyptian anger at Hamas and the factions’ refusal to quasi-Egyptian orders to stop friction with the Occupation soldiers across the border in marches in which hundreds of Palestinians participate, and to stop launching incendiary balloons at the settlements surrounding the Gaza Strip.

They pointed out that the Egyptian anger amounted to dictating “unreasonable” demands from the Egyptian Intelligence, such as the handover of a Palestinian who shot an Israeli soldier near the border (August 2021).

The sources indicated that the main anger stems from the resistance embarrassing the Intelligence Director Abbas Kamel in front of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, since he promised him calm with Gaza, which did not happen.

They stated that the factions question the integrity of the Egyptian mediator, because Cairo’s demands are compatible with the Occupation’s, and therefore they rejected it, which made relations tense and approaching the atmosphere of the post-coup phase of 2013 in Egypt.

The Egyptian anger began with their demand from Hamas to postpone the Saturday, August 21, 2021 border march, but the Movement refused, and the shooting of a Palestinian youth at an Israeli soldier across the border in the peace march came to increase Egypt’s anger.

As a result of this Egyptian anger, the intelligence services closed the Rafah crossing with Gaza, even though “Israel,” which is more concerned in the conflict than Egypt, did not close the Kerem Shalom crossing.

Egypt was more upset when Hamas and the factions ignored a second Egyptian request not to hold the August 25, 2021 march, during which new protests took place on the border.

According to a Palestinian and Egyptian source familiar with Al-Estiklal, “the director of Egyptian intelligence pledged to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett during his visit (August 2021) that Gaza would remain calm during the latter’s visit to Washington.”

The goal was for Bennett’s visit to Washington to succeed, during which he would mediate with the administration of the U.S. President Joe Biden to ease pressure on Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and prevent part of its military aid from being withheld for Cairo’s violation of human rights, according to Western reports.

It was planned that Bennett would visit Egypt, announce a long-term truce in Gaza and start reconstruction, but the factions refused to give Abbas Kamel any new deadline.

This resulted in Abbas’ complete embarrassment in front of “Israel,” and the tension of Bennett’s visit to the U.S., which in turn exposed him to embarrassment, especially since the factions were keen to establish the border activity on the same day of his meeting with Biden.

 

The Palestinian factions were no less angry because of Egypt’s Intelligence attempts to dictate conditions and pressure them in favor of the Occupation, and without any return for lifting the siege.

According to what Palestinian sources told Al-Estiklal, the factions were angry at Cairo’s handling of it, turning into a mediator biased towards “Israel” against the Palestinians, and imposing pressure on them to accept Tel Aviv’s demands.

But it agreed to make pledges to keep the second march further away from the border fence than the first march, while emphasizing its complete peace.

Hamas temporarily suspended the launching of incendiary balloons at the request of Egypt, hoping to open the Rafah crossing.

The factions informed Egypt that the siege was increased after the May 2021 war rather than being completely dismanted, and that Cairo’s involvement with the Occupation and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in a tripartite siege on Gaza arouses their discontent.

The factions sent a message to the Egyptian intelligence, asking them to take action to end the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, and to stop the blackmail of the Occupation “if they want calm and stability in the entire region.”

They said: “There is a national consensus on the continuation of popular activities,” and the Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar conveyed a message to Egypt that “the factions will continue their jihad and struggle and the continuation of the resistance, until the enemy stops all forms of delay and procrastination and lifts the siege.”

After the factions partially responded to Egypt’s demand—to stop the incendiary balloons and to keep the demonstrations away from the border wall—Cairo decided to open the crossing.

Iyad El-Bozom, a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior and National Security, confirmed, after the end of the “Sword of Jerusalem” festival on August 25, 2021 with relative calm, that Egypt informed them that the Rafah border crossing is to be opened the following day, in part for those returning to Gaza only, provided that it will be opened in both directions on the twenty-ninth of the same month.

Roi Kais, the correspondent of the Israeli Radio and Television Corporation Kan 11, commented on this by saying: This is an “Egyptian award for the good behavior of the factions!”

 

An Egyptian political expert interpreted Cairo’s announcement that the crossing was fully reopened, coinciding with the arrival of the Israeli Prime Minister to the U.S., as an Egyptian attempt not to lose the “Gaza card” that it uses in negotiating with the Biden administration to establish a functional role for it in the Middle East.

The expert told Al-Estiklal: “Cairo’s tightening on the resistance factions had counterproductive results that embarrassed Egypt and made it appear as if it had no role in the truce, and that it moved from the mediator’s seats to the Israeli side against Hamas.”

Cairo was further embarrassed by the Hebrew newspapers’ talk that Egypt imposed sanctions on Gaza by closing the Rafah crossing after Israeli demands to do so.

Despite an informed Egyptian source confirming to Al-Estiklal that Egypt’s closure of the Rafah crossing came as a message of “reproach” to the factions, and Palestinian factions considering this gesture as a “punishment,” the factions said, they do not intend to escalate for the purpose of war, but rather to lift the siege.

The Egyptian source confirmed that Cairo was afraid that the border heating operations might threaten the truce brokered by Egypt, which would embarrass it before the U.S. administration and “Israel,” and that Cairo was worried about the outbreak of a new armed confrontation.

On the contrary, The Times of Israel asserted on August 25, 2021, that despite the looming threat of renewed fighting, “the IDF believes that the Hamas leadership has no intention of entering a war again.”

The newspaper indicated that Hamas “did not approve or support the rocket attack [on an Israeli settlement] or the continuous balloon attacks.”

The Movement’s leader, Mahmoud Al-Zahar, also said: “[Hamas] does not work for the outbreak of war.”

He explained to Anadolu Agency on August 25, 2021, that “Hamas is working for an escalation at the popular level on the ground as a result of Israel’s tightening of the noose on Gaza, and its infringement on vital matters such as food, water and electricity.”

In response to the Israeli threats of a military operation in Gaza, he said: “Israel will not take a new adventure, and we are convinced that it will not venture into a new war in the region.”

Israeli Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi had said: “The army is preparing for a military operation in the Gaza Strip, perhaps soon,” while the Israeli Prime Minister expressed his readiness to fight a new war, “even if this leads to the fall of the coalition government.”

These new threats from both sides prompted Cairo to try to control matters again.

 

After the revolution of January 25, 2011, Egyptian relations with Gaza witnessed a honeymoon that lasted for nearly two and a half years.

But it ended two days after the 2013 coup, when Major General Mohamed Fareed Al-Tuhami was appointed Chief of Egyptian Intelligence, succeeding Major General Raafat Shehata on July 5, 2013.

During the tenure of Al-Tuhami, who was head of Sisi in the Military Intelligence Service, he sought to remove many of the leaders of the General Intelligence, which led to restlessness within the apparatus.

This was accompanied by the emergence of several leaks of Sisi and the coup leaders through the Egyptian opposition channels in Turkey.

Because he was one of those affiliated with the Fatah Hawks militant groups inside the Palestinian Authority, Al-Tuhami pushed for severing ties with Hamas and Qatar, in addition to recommending the suppression of all human rights movements and the elimination of civil society organizations inside.

In his only interview with American journalist David Ignatius in the Washington Post on November 11, 2013, Al-Tuhami described Hamas as “the spoiled child of the Brotherhood regime,” before the coup.

Al-Tuhami alluded indirectly to what Egypt kept saying later about the involvement of members of the Hamas Movement in participating in the January 2011 revolution through “terrorist operations” and storming the borders.

The breakthrough in the file of Hamas and the Egyptian General Intelligence Service began with the inauguration of Major General Khaled Fawzy as head of the agency on December 21, 2014, to succeed Al-Tuhami.

Fawzy was the first head of the apparatus in Egypt to visit the Gaza Strip and communicate directly with the factions. During his tenure, the Egyptian Intelligence began to recover the Strip’s file after he moved to Qatar, Turkey, and Iran in their absence.

It was a paradox that Brotherhood leaders in Egypt are being tried in the case of “collaboration with Hamas,” imprisoned and sentenced to death, while intelligence cars transport their leaders through the Rafah crossing.

The Egyptian authorities’ goal in the restoration of communication with the Movement was initially to achieve gains represented in resetting the borders and preventing the infiltration of takfiri elements from the “Salafi-jihadism” factions (which fight Hamas) in Gaza into the Sinai.

Later, when Abbas Kamel, Sisi’s right-hand man, was appointed head of the General Intelligence Service, a temporary chill emerged with Hamas and the factions.

However, relations soon revitalized due to Cairo’s need to play a role in Gaza that would bring it into the focus of the West’s attention.

Hamas’s importance in Cairo’s eyes grew when the aggression on Gaza erupted in May 2021 with “Israel,” and Egypt sought to return to its usual job role as a mediator.

This prompted the Biden administration to stop its boycott of the Sisi regime and encourage its efforts to calm “Israel” and Gaza.

Al-Sisi took advantage of this to woo Biden to show the importance of his role in achieving the interests of the United States, in return for condoning the violations of his human rights regime.