Posted on 06/07/2024 11:33:18 AM PDT by SJackson
U.S., Egyptian and Israeli officials failed to make progress in a meeting last Sunday about reopening the Rafah crossing after the Israeli side refused to allow any role for the Palestinian Authority in operating the strategic site, according to four U.S. and Israeli officials.
Why it matters: Reopening the crossing on the border of Egypt and Gaza, preventing Hamas from smuggling weapons into the Strip from Egypt and maintaining a tenuous peace between Israel and Egypt are top priorities for the Biden administration.
U.S. officials say the reopening of the Rafah crossing could be a first step in a wider post-war strategy for the stabilization and reconstruction of Gaza. Driving the news: The meeting in Cairo was a result of a phone call two weeks ago between President Biden and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
During the call, Sisi agreed to Biden's request to resume the flow of aid trucks into Gaza through Israel, after deliveries were halted two weeks earlier in protest of Israel's takeover of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing.
Biden promised the Egyptian president that if the flow of aid was resumed, the U.S. would work to reopen the Rafah crossing as soon as possible, a U.S. official said.
The big picture: The Biden administration has repeatedly said it sees Gaza as part of a future Palestinian state and wants the Palestinian Authority to have a role in governing it after the war.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pushed back on the Palestinian Authority's involvement in Gaza in almost every meeting with U.S. officials in recent months.
Early in the war, he said he was against any role for the Palestinian Authority in Gaza, a position that has become a political talking point that he will have a hard time walking back.
During a meeting of Israel's security cabinet ahead of the talks in Egypt, Netanyahu said he doesn't agree to any role for the Palestinian Authority at the Rafah crossing, according to two sources with knowledge of the meeting.
One of the sources said Netanyahu's remark contradicted a policy approved in the war cabinet a few days earlier that said Israel would agree to the Rafah crossing being operated by any government entity other than Hamas. Behind the scenes: The U.S. delegation for the meeting in Cairo was headed by Terry Wolff, the senior director for the Middle East at the White House National Security Council.
The Israeli government coordinator for the West Bank and Gaza, Gen. Ghassan Alian, and officials from the Shin Bet security agency led the Israeli delegation. Egypt was represented by officials from the country's intelligence service and military.
Friction point: During the meeting, the U.S. and Egypt raised the possibility of reopening the crossing with Palestinians from Gaza who are not affiliated with Hamas and would be representatives of the Palestinian Authority, the U.S. and Israeli officials said.
The Palestinian Authority in Ramallah has prepared a list of about 300 hundred Palestinians from Gaza who were vetted and ready to work at the crossing, U.S. officials said. Israel said at the meeting that it is ready to vet the Palestinians who are on the list and to allow those who aren't affiliated with Hamas to operate the crossing together with the EU force of monitors that was stationed at the crossing before Hamas began governing Gaza in 2007, according to two Israeli officials.
Israel said it doesn't have a problem with Palestinians who are affiliated with Fatah — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' party and Hamas' political rival — operating the crossing, but they wouldn't agree to them doing it as official representatives of the Palestinian Authority, the officials said.
Israel proposed an interim solution could be for the Palestinians on the list to operate the crossing as "a local civilian committee" instead, one Israeli official said.
Egypt and the Palestinian Authority reject the idea. The Egyptians proposed to hold a follow-up meeting with the director of intelligence for the Palestinian Authority, Maj. Gen. Majed al-Faraj, to discuss the issue.
But the Israelis refused and said the government's directive is not to hold any discussions about Gaza with the Palestinian Authority. They added they would need approval from Israel's political leaders to hold such a meeting.
Between the lines: A senior Israeli official said Israel and the U.S. also presented information about the number of tunnels they say are between Egypt and Gaza and asked the Egyptians to destroy them in order to prevent weapons being smuggled to Hamas.
The Egyptians "played down" the issue, the official said. Egyptian officials earlier said there were no such tunnels and that Israel was using the claims to justify its attack on Rafah.
What they're saying: "The discussions about the Rafah crossing were very tough and ended with no agreement," an Israeli official said.
One U.S. official said "there was a lot of frustration and disappointment on both sides" during the Cairo meeting.
But another U.S. official said there was some progress in the meeting in Cairo, including an agreement to increase the amount of humanitarian aid delivered from Egypt to Gaza through Israel.
Both U.S. officials said there was no expectation to reach a solution after one meeting and the conversations with Egypt and Israel about the crossing are still ongoing. They said an agreement on the reopening of the crossing could still happen in the near future.
Egyptian security sources told Reuters the meeting was positive despite there being no agreement.
The Muslim population of both states is small. If Joe loses them, they’ll be staying home not going to Trump. I don’t think Joe has factored in the support among Christians he might lose in those states over the issue. Not to mention nationally, support for Israel is still widespread.
The West Bank is pretty quiet so far. They do talk about fighting against Israel. But they've decided to stay out of this fight. They know that the war is in Gaza against Hamas.
Nothing like the last Intifada.
The election is close enough that it'll hurt Joe if he does not have the support from Muslims in Dearborn and Minneapolis.
You are absolutely RIGHT.. The Israeli’s Want to FINISH THIS!!!
Not letting the terrorists have a headshot sounds like a great idea to me...
Egypt is stalling the aid through Rafah out of spite and appearances of solidarity. They don’t want Israel to operate the Gaza side of the crossing so they halted aid deliveries weeks ago. What is ironic and silly is that they are delivering the aid directly into Israel through their shared bordder, and Israel then trucks it to another Israeli crossing into Gaza. So it’s just all for appearances, and maybe a little leverage and to perpetuate the “starving people” PR.
Israel has to maintain security control over the Rafah crossing and the entire Philadelphi corridor (the border between Gaza and Egypt) for the foreseeable future. All smuggling tunnels have to be dismantled, and they have to ensure no future ones will be built.
US, EU, UN and Arab aid paid for the rockets, too.
The focus on humanitarian aid is just fine; nobody should starve and the Gazans are unfortunately dependent on aid because of the horrible Hamas leadership that espouses war over peace and prosperity.
But who is going to pay to rebuild anything significant in Gaza if there is a risk it will just go back to war in 10 years or less? The world has to speak with one voice on this: Hamas and ideology like theirs has no place in the Palestinians future. Aid must be conditioned on meaningful change, and enforced. Trump cut off a lot of aid because he saw how it was being used. Biden restored it and look what we have - Hamas, Hezbullah, Houthis, and Iran all on war footing.
Said in hopeful way. No- he’ll be there a year from now. Gantz hasn’t the strength and the US is a bunch of morons regarding Israeli sovereignty.
West Bank is quiet? Not from sources on the ground there— well, you’ll see. Then get back with the “peace” observation, cause it’s just not true.
Wouldn’t buy in to the Gantz wing of “negotiating” defeatists just yet. Bibi has over 80% support and the coalition is holding because of the true end goals not being diluted with US bullcrap. Because anything except those goals is the end of Israel, and they all know it.
Thanks again for posting daily. I share on TS, X and also on other threads on FR.
I'm aware that there's some skirmishes. But so far the IDF was able to put a lid on the West Bank. Mostly, I think it's because the folks in the West Bank know that they'll get their @$$es kicked again. So that's a deterrence right there.
china jo just loves open borders.
You got to wonder what Netanyahu says behind closed doors about Biden. Gumby meet Israel’s Eisenhower.
I wouldn't trust the EU with it either.
Or the US.
Simple answer? 10% for the Big Guy.
Most definitely, given the current state of affairs.
True but Sisi knows that's a bad deal for Egypt.
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