Egypt intelligence chief secretly visited Israel for talks on Gaza truce: report

The head of Egyptian intelligence is said to have made a secret visit to Tel Aviv on Wednesday to iron out details of a long-term truce between Israel and Hamas currently under negotiation, according to a report by the London-based Arabic-language Al-Hayat newspaper on Thursday.

کد خبر: ۸۲۵۷۸۲

تاریخ: ۲۵ مرداد ۱۳۹۷ - ۱۰:۱۷

According to the report, General Abbas Kamel traveled to Tel Aviv to meet with Israeli officials to hammer out the final details of an imminently expected joint agreement between the parties to bring to an end months of violence along the border and also ease conditions in the impoverished Palestinian enclave.

Kamel is also expected to meet with Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah to present the Palestinian leader with the details of the arrangement being formulated, a Palestinian source told Al-Hayat.

Kamel’s reported visit to Tel Aviv comes following a report by Israel’s Channel 10, citing unnamed American officials, that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi held top-secret talks in Cairo in May centered on finding a diplomatic solution for the Gaza Strip.

According to reports, the proposal under discussion includes a long-term ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the restoration of control over the enclave to the Abbas-led PA, the advancement of a number of humanitarian projects, and, in later stages, negotiations for the release of the remains of two fallen soldiers and at least two Israeli civilians being held captive by Hamas.

An Israeli diplomatic source said Wednesday that Israel would not agree to a “real arrangement” that did not include Hamas releasing Israeli captives and continued calm on the volatile border with Gaza.

Reports that the release of Israeli captives and the bodies of fallen IDF soldiers held since 2014 would only be negotiated in later stages of the multi-phased proposal sparked opposition from some key Israeli ministers, including hawkish Education Minister and security cabinet member Naftali Bennett who vowed on Tuesday to vote against any agreement with Hamas.

Hamas is insisting that in exchange for the captives’ release Israel free hundreds of Palestinian prisoners re-arrested following an earlier prisoner exchange deal in 2011.

Meanwhile, the elements of the proposal regarding an intra-Palestinian rapprochement have been criticised by Abbas, who said Wednesday that Hamas has no intention of reconciling.

By contrast, Abbas said the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah wants “one government, one law and one legitimate weapon without militias,” governing an “all inclusive” future Palestinian state that connects Gazans and Palestinians living in the West Bank.

The formation of a contiguous Palestinian territory encompassing both the West Bank and Gaza Strip, a concept which is expected to come as part of any future  Israeli-Palestinian peace proposal, is another point of contention in Israel.

Islamist movement Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, led by secular movement Fatah, have failed to implement previous reconciliation deals aimed at ending their decade-long split, alleviating humanitarian suffering in Gaza, and providing a united front for the Palestinians to face down an increasingly hostile US administration and right-wing Israeli government.

Previous attempts to unite the rival Palestinian factions were met by an Israeli refusal to enter into any negotiations with a unity government that included Hamas, which it considers a terror organization. Abbas, too, has repeatedly rejected any plan for Gaza which would legitimize Hamas’ rival administration in the Strip for fear it would weaken the status of the PA among Palestinians and set the stage for a Hamas political takeover of the West Bank in the future.

According to Monday’s Channel 10 report, however, Sisi was said to have emphasized in his talks with Netanyahu the return of the PA to Gaza even at the expense of Hamas not rescinding its weaponry.

The White House, meanwhile, which is said to be nearing completion of its own proposal for a broader  Israeli-Palestinian peace, has reportedly said that it will support a viable ceasefire agreement whether or not it includes the return of the PA to Gaza.