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Egypt cancels Gaza talks, implicates Palestinians in Sinai terror attacks
Egyptian officials announced yesterday that talks set for this week in Cairo between Israel and a Palestinian delegation, to negotiate a long-term Gaza agreement, had been cancelled in the wake of a huge terror attack in Sinai which killed 33 Egyptian soldiers.
On Friday, a suicide bomb was detonated at an Egyptian army checkpoint near al-Arish in the northern Sinai Peninsula. A second attack utilised rocket-propelled grenades and mortars, which local groups apparently are not trained to use. As a result, Maj. Gen. Sameeh Beshadi told Asharq Al-Awsat there was “no doubt that Palestinian elements had taken part in the attacks.” Egypt’s President al-Sisi declared a state of emergency in parts of Sinai. He said that “foreign forces” were responsible for the attack and ordered the closure of the Rafah border crossing with Gaza.
Since last year’s ousting of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, al-Sisi’s regime has been the main target of Sinai terror groups, especially Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, which has also targeted Israel on occasion. Egyptian media claims that the group was responsible for a border attack last week which injured two Israeli soldiers. Egypt’s offensive against the group has included the destruction of more than 1,500 smuggling tunnels into Sinai from the Gaza Strip.
Citing the “state of emergency in the border area between Egypt and Gaza,” Egyptian officials said yesterday that the planned indirect talks between Israel and a Palestinian delegation including Hamas would not proceed this week. Hamas affiliated daily Al-Resalah reported that a Hamas delegation had been refused entry into Egypt.
The planned talks are designed to build on an Egyptian-brokered open-ended truce which put an end to this summer’s 50-day Operation Protective Edge and has since held firm. However, the terms stipulated that Israel and Hamas, within a wider Palestinian delegation, would discuss longer-term issues regarding the Gaza Strip. Many outstanding issues remain including Israel’s request for the demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip and Hamas’s demand to construct an airport and sea port.