BICOM

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi in Sharm el-Sheikh over the weekend as part of Egypt’s efforts to forge a ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel.

Neither of the sides elaborated what was achieved in the meeting. The London-based al-Hayat newspaper reported that Abbas accepted the ceasefire agreement, but Palestinian Authority (PA) officials had previously said that Fatah-Hamas reconciliation should precede any ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.

The Lebanese newspaper Al-Akbar reported that, within the framework of the agreement, the PA would pay 80 per cent of Hamas salaries in Gaza and would not object to Qatar paying those wages for at least six months. The ceasefire deal would also require Israel to lift 70 per cent of its restrictions on goods and movement in and out of Gaza, as well as allow UN infrastructure and energy projects to go ahead, which would create 30,000 new jobs. Israeli officials have said some of the reported provisions are inaccurate.

President Sisi urged Abbas to accept the new Egyptian proposal for a “graded reconciliation” with Hamas. The proposal would mean the PA would first take over civil responsibility for the Gaza Strip, and a few years later take control of internal security and Hamas’s military wing. The Egyptian proposal was formulated over the course of four visits to the PA by a senior Egyptian intelligence official.

Jason Greenblatt, the US special representative for international negotiations, met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday. He tweeted after the meeting that they discussed the situation in Gaza and regional developments.

On Friday 10,000 Palestinians demonstrated at several points near the Gaza Strip border fence. Some of the demonstrations took place deeper inside the Gaza Strip. The demonstrators burned tyres and threw stones but there was less violence than in previous weeks.