Egypt struggles to reconcile Hamas, Palestinian Authority
Egypt postponed a highly anticipated meeting between Palestinian factions to avoid failure, as Cairo recently came out as a major regional player after brokering the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.
Egypt has so far struggled to reconcile Hamas and the Palestinian Authority after mediating a cease-fire last month between Israel and Hamas.
Egypt had invited Palestinian factions for an urgent meeting in Cairo set for June 12 to discuss a united vision for the national Palestinian movement. But in a surprising development June 10 — just two days ahead of the planned meeting — Cairo notified the Palestinians that it was postponing the discussions.
Egyptian authorities did not reveal the reasons behind the decision to postpone the talks. But it seems the move reflects Cairo’s inability to find common denominators between the main rival Palestinian movements, Hamas and Fatah. It appears that Cairo was not willing to hold a meeting that would not lead to positive results.
Hamas member Mahmoud Merdawi told Al-Monitor, “Palestinian factions did not agree to a dialogue in Egypt. What really happened was that Egypt extended invitations for various Palestinian factions for [separate] talks on the possibility of holding a national dialogue. On June 10, the head of Hamas’ politburo, Ismail Haniyeh, met with Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel during a visit to Cairo. But the Egyptian initiative failed because of the timelines of some parties. Any national dialogue must be preceded by coordination, preparation and readiness.”
