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Till Peace Do Us Part

 

President George Bush was famously quoted for a phrase he did not coin but one that summed up his presidency style: 'You are either with us or against us'. This logic applies in international relations, and is evident in the Middle East, were there is no place for neutrality.

Since 2014, Hamas and Israel have been building new regional alliances in an effort to balance the unbalanced. Hamas turned to wealthy Qatar for funds, Iran for weapons, and Turkey for political support. Meanwhile, and under the auspices of Donald Trump, Israel found new allies in the Arab world by signing the Abraham Accords with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco. You either support Hamas, or Israel, not both. Unless you are Egypt.

Egypt was the first country in the Arab world to sign a peace deal with Israel. Its economic ties with Israel cannot be denied, and the agreement on several files that affect the interests of both countries have brought the two neighbors closer. At the same time, Egypt maintained a relationship with Hamas, allowing it some jail-free time, passage of contraband, and brokering deals when international powers decided to remain silent. Both Hamas and Israel benefit from the common friend.

However, this friendship has its own self-driven purposes. First, Egypt capitalizes on catastrophes to cement friendships. Egypt stepped in as a hero in 2014 to broker the truce that ended the Gaza war. Relations with Hamas improved in 2017, only after the Islamist group broke its ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt rose to the occasion again after it managed to broker a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel in the May 2021 clashes. Cairo makes sure that its role becomes ever so crucial when there is trouble in the house, jumping in as a counsellor, sometimes fair, and sometimes obviously taking sides. In the last intervention, it went a step beyond its coy role and had its Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a strongly worded statement condemning Israeli authorities after they stormed Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque and attacked locals and worshipers. The statement also called on Israel to stop any practices that violate the sanctity of the Al-Aqsa Mosque or the Islamic and Christian identity of Jerusalem. Rarely does one see a relevant, development oriented role that was not crisis-resolving-related.

Second, Egypt is well aware of the importance of maintaining its diplomatic weight in the region, and the Israeli-Hamas card is the best card to play. The regional map is constantly shifting, and the latest development of the reconciliation of the Gulf house, the wave of normalization agreements between Israel and other Arab states, and a hostile south that is pressing on with controversial water projects. In order to ensure that its role remain relevant and its voice heard by international powers, it needs to keep an upper hand in the Palestinian – Israeli saga. The May 2021 example by brokering a truce in the Gaza Strip has thrust it into the diplomatic spotlight, overshadowing all other regional attempt of mediation.

Egypt will remain pivotal in the region as long as the two sides remain at war. This way it will ensure that it will preserve its diplomatic strength that serve its interests. Israel and Hamas are grateful to share Egypt. It has indeed befriended both, but is a friend of neither.

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