September 24, 2017 11 News & Analysis -Fatah reconciliation process shows growing Egyptian influence in region

Amr Emam Turkey, Qatar and Iran have tried to replace as the main player Cairo in the Palestinian file, using the unrest in [Egypt] and weakening igns of reconciliation be- regional influence.” tween rival Palestinian Hamas announced it would dis- factions Hamas and Fatah solve the administration that runs would signal long-await- Gaza — a major step towards hand- ed Palestinian unity, an ing control of the to a Send to Hamas’s isolation and im- Palestinian unity government — proved humanitarian conditions after Egyptian officials mediated in Gaza along with re-establishing talks between Hamas and Fatah Egypt as a force on the regional representatives in Cairo. scene, experts said. The deal would allow for Pales- “This would prove that Cairo tinian Authority control over the still has leverage over the Pales- Rafah Crossing between Egypt’s tinian file, something that was Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip, strongly contested by a number resolve the problem of overdue of regional powers,” said Egyptian salaries for thousands of admin- MP Samir Ghattas. “Over the past istrative workers in Gaza and re- few years, regional powers like store electricity supplies to Gaza. It would, necessarily, pave the Traditional leverage. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (R) meeting with Palestinian leader way for legislative and presiden- Mahmoud Abbas in Cairo, last April. (AFP) tial elections in the Palestinian territories. For Egypt, the deal confirms lent” and “strategic.” la and Gaza at a time when Islamic Reconciliation between Hamas that Cairo is still a regional power, Cairo’s role in sponsoring the State (ISIS) fighters operate in the and Fatah is an important step for even as the country faces eco- Hamas-Fatah reconciliation would area. wider Palestinian unity, leading nomic problems. “I commend the ensure that Tehran is unable to in- Cairo had accused Hamas — an Cooperation between to the formation of a government Egyptian authorities for their tire- fluence the Palestinian file. This ideological offshoot of the out- that could reactivate a stalled less efforts in creating this posi- is a political and national security lawed — of Hamas and Iran brings Palestinian-Israeli peace process. tive momentum,” said UN Special victory for Egypt, experts said. abetting ISIS fighters in Sinai. Iranian influence to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Coordinator for the Middle East “Cooperation between Hamas However, renewed security coop- Egypt’s doorstep, which al-Sisi met separately with Pales- Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov. and Iran brings Iranian influence eration between Cairo and Hamas tinian President Mahmoud Abbas “This is why I say the possible to Egypt’s doorstep, which is very tightened security on the border, is very dangerous. and Israeli Prime Minister Biny- deal is yet new proof that Egypt dangerous,” said Tarek Fahmi, a assisting Egypt in its fight against amin Netanyahu on the sidelines is still strong, despite its internal political science professor at Cairo ISIS in Sinai. of the UN General Assembly, dur- problems,” Ghattas said. “It also University. “This is why contain- “This cooperation will cut off all ing which he stressed the impor- amounts to a major blow to claims ing Hamas and preventing it from types of support for the ISIS mili- tance of resuming Palestinian-Is- by other regional powers that they cooperating with rival powers like tants, which will further weaken raeli peace talks. can influence the course of events Iran is very important for Egypt’s them,” said Saad al-Zunt, head of However, despite Hamas’s an- in the Palestinian territories.” national security.” the Political and Strategic Studies nouncement and Abbas’s wel- Cairo expressed concerns about Representatives from Hamas Centre, an Egyptian think-tank. come of the move, success hinges perceived attempts by Tehran to and Fatah are to meet directly in “This will help the Egyptian Army on complex issues related to pow- draw Hamas into its orbit. In late Cairo to discuss details of the rec- speed up the eradication of this Tarek Fahmi, a political er-sharing. Similar previous rec- August, Hamas leader Yahya Sin- onciliation deal. This would en- group.” onciliation efforts, most recently war alluded to strengthening ties sure continuing security coopera- science professor at in 2014, failed after disagreements between his movement and Iran, tion from Hamas in securing the Amr Emam is a Cairo-based over the details. describing these ties as “excel- border between the Sinai Peninsu- contributor to The Arab Weekly. Amr Moussa’s memoirs make waves across the Middle East

Amr Emam used to import expensive special “I am ready to prove everything Arab at a time of great ri- food from in the early I write in this first volume of the valry with regional powers Iraq and 1960s. Moussa claimed that he memoirs,” Moussa told The Arab Turkey. Cairo had direct knowledge of this be- Weekly. “I did not mean to defame Abu Bakr, a senior editor at the cause of his time as a junior em- Nasser in any manner but I am tell- private Egyptian daily al-Shorouk, he memoirs of veteran ployee at the Egyptian Embassy in ing the truth.” described writing Moussa’s mem- Egyptian statesman Amr Bern. In a country then suffering Moussa has been a fixture of oirs as “extremely tough.” Moussa are making waves extreme poverty and the threat of Egyptian and Arab diplomacy for across the Middle East. war, Moussa’s claim could tarnish five decades, having close personal It took the former Arab Nasser’s man-of-the-people image. relationships with many Arab lead- Moussa described TLeague secretary-general and long- Gamal Fahmi, a left-wing writer, ers. He has had a front-row seat to the memoirs as the time Egyptian foreign minister and said Moussa’s “views of Nasser the changes that continue in the “record” of his life his biographer Khaled Abu Bakr weaken the credibility of his book. Arab region. as a politician and two years to write the first volume “Everybody knows that Nasser was The first volume of Moussa’s a diplomat. of “Ketabiyah” (“My Testimony”). a great leader, whose life was not memoirs covers the period from his The memoirs present Moussa’s ostentatious in any manner,” Fahmi birth in 1936 to the day he left his “This is a very senior diplomat views of his years of serving Egypt. said position as Egypt’s foreign minister who will leave nothing to the world In the memoirs, Moussa de- in 2001 after ten years as Egypt’s top but the record of the roles he played scribed two brief encounters with diplomat. As he ascended the dip- in the service of his country and the Moussa has been a Nasser and dwells on his style of lomatic ladder, starting in 1957 af- Arab nation,” Abu Bakr said. “This rule, placing the perceived failings ter his graduation from law school is why documenting everything he fixture of Egyptian and of the late revolutionary leader un- to his becoming foreign minister related and writing it in a correct Arab diplomacy for five der the spotlight. in 1991, Moussa had a clear view of manner was a matter of utmost im- decades, having close Moussa was working in the For- the events, policies and people that portance.” personal relationships eign Ministry in Cairo during the have made Egypt and the Arab re- Moussa said he would not have with many Arab leaders. Six-Day War in 1967 when the Egyp- gion what they are today. written his memoirs but feared that tian and Syrian armies suffered a He witnessed the tough times he could repeat the plight of Osama However, the book has been met humiliating defeat at Israel’s hands Egypt experienced following the al-Baz, a close confidant of former with fervent anger from sections of and that resulted in the occupation 1967 defeat and the subsequent vic- President and Sa- Egyptian society, particularly the of the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula and tory in the October 1973 war with dat, who died in 2013 without pro- family of former President Gamal the Syrian Golan Heights. Israel. Moussa was close to the late ducing his memoirs. Abdel Nasser and his supporters. Moussa, in the book, attributed President Anwar Sadat, played a Moussa described the memoirs Nasser’s youngest son, Abdel Egypt’s defeat to the army’s lack small role in the peace negotiations as the “record” of his life as a politi- Hakim Nasser, said he would not of preparedness, Nasser’s rashness with Israel and was at the heart of cian and a diplomat. “stoop to Amr Moussa’s level” by and miscalculations. He also found the diplomatic furore that followed “They are the harvest of all the replying to his claims in the book, fault with the late leader’s one-man Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990. years of my work, my whole life,” including that Nasser, a diabetic, style of rule. Moussa was also at the centre of he said.