BREAKING: Israeli PM made secret Egypt trip for Gaza talks: report

14 August 2018 - 00H40  GMT/UTC/ZULU TIME

by Jenny Feder and Biodun Iginla, France24, Jerusalem

 
 
 
 
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© AFP/File | A handout picture from the Egyptian Presidency shows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in New York on September 18, 2017

JERUSALEM - 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid a rare, secret visit to Egypt in May for talks with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, Israeli television reported Monday.

There was no immediate confirmation of the visit from official sources, but the private Channel 10 station said the leaders met on May 22.

That followed a day of huge protests on May 14 along the Gaza border against the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem, sparking clashes which left 63 Palestinians dead.

Gaza lies between Israel and Egypt, which has previously mediated between Netanyahu's government and the Islamist Hamas movement that controls the coastal enclave.

According to American sources quoted by Channel 10, Netanyahu and Sisi discussed the possibility of a long-term truce in the Strip, where Israel has since 2008 fought three wars with Hamas.

The Islamists seized power in the territory after a virtual civil war with the Fatah movement of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, and Gaza has been under a crushing Israeli blockade for a decade.

Netanyahu and Sisi also examined the possible return of the Palestinian Authority to the territory, an easing of Israel's blockade and reconstruction of Gaza's war-scarred infrastructure, the report said.

The Egyptian presidency was not immediately available to comment on the Channel 10 report.

Gaza has seen mass protests since the end of March as Palestinians demand the right to return to homes their families fled or were expelled from in 1948 during the war surrounding the creation of Israel.

Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Monday that another round of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza was inevitable, despite attempts to reach a long-term truce.

There have also been three major military flare-ups between Israel and Hamas since July, on top of the months of tension along the border.

At least 169 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since March 30, mostly during clashes sparked by demonstrations.

One Israeli soldier was shot dead by a Palestinian sniper in July.

There have been efforts by United Nations officials and Egypt to secure a long-term truce between Israel and Hamas, though Israeli officials have not commented on them.

A fragile truce came into effect Thursday night, mediated by Egypt and the UN, according to a source close to the negotiations.

Thursday saw extensive Israeli air strikes in retaliation for the launching of more than 180 rockets and mortar rounds by Hamas and its allies beginning on Wednesday night.

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Reco

Egypt to open Gaza border for Palestinians during Ramadan

May 19, 2018  04H:19  GMT/UTC/ZULU TIME

by Nasra Ismail and Biodun Iginla, BBC News and Reuters, Gaza, Palestine

RAFAH, GAZA, PALESTINE - Gazans lined up from dawn on Friday to travel across the border into Egypt after President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said his country’s gateway with the Gaza Strip would be opened throughout the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

A Palestinian boy looks out a bus window as he waits to travel into Egypt through the Rafah border crossing, in the southern Gaza Strip May 18, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

Sisi’s announcement late Thursday, if fully implemented, would open the Rafah crossing to Palestinians for the longest single period in years.

The Egyptian leader’s Twitter account said the opening of the crossing would “alleviate the burdens of brothers in Gaza.” On Friday the first Gaza passengers who lined up from 5 a.m. were finally let through into Egypt eight hours later, at 1 p.m.

Hamas has denied Cairo pressure but the opening was widely seen in Gaza and Israel as the likely result of a deal to provide Gazans with a lifeline to the outside world in return for the de-escalation of a deadly six-week protest on the Gaza-Israel border.

Israeli troops killed dozens of Palestinians at the ‘Great March of Return’ protest on May 14, the day that the United States opened its new embassy to Israel in the contested holy city of Jerusalem.

“This is political. I can bet my life on it,” said one 34-year-old Gazan as he waited among busloads of passengers at Rafah.

A Palestinian girl sleeps as she waits with her mother to travel to Egypt through the Rafah border crossing, in the southern Gaza Strip May 18, 2018. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

He pointed to the May 13 visit by Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh to Egypt, which has sought to act as a broker between Israel, Hamas and its Palestinian rivals.

“I believe this is part of a deal Haniyeh made with the Egyptians, who asked him to calm down the situation in Gaza,” he said, refusing to give his surname because he feared Egypt would refuse him entry.

“We are not against it. On the contrary, we hope it will also include lifting the Israeli blockade. It would mean the marches were effective.”

With Israeli border crossings closed to the vast majority of Palestinians since Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007, the Egyptian border has become critical to Gaza’s economic survival.

Although Hamas controls Gaza, it is not directly in control of the strip's most important crossings, Rafah with Egypt and Erez with Israel. It handed control of those crossings late last year to its rival, the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, in a reconciliation deal signed in Cairo.[tmsnrt.rs/2wP39MO]

Egyptian government spokesmen did not immediately respond to requests for comment on whether Egypt had indeed brokered a deal.

Preaching in Gaza on the first Friday of Ramadan, Hamas leader Haniyeh did not say whether he had reached a deal with Egypt. Instead he sought to present the Rafah opening as the fruit of protests which, he said, had “revived the Palestinian cause and attracted international and Arab support.”

“We are witnessing steps, we are witnessing a real beginning for lifting the blockade on Gaza,” he said.

Slideshow (3 Images)

But Israel said recent events showed Hamas has never been weaker, short of money and weakened by isolation. Officals say Hamas has been “weaponising” civil unrest after seeing its rockets and attack tunnels blunted by Israeli counter-measures.

“Egypt is very dominant in relations with Hamas,” Israel’s Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked told Israeli radio. “Hamas controls everything, and they simply understood that they have a lot to lose - both from Israel and from Egypt.”

Israel cited security considerations for imposing its closures on Gaza, fearing suicide bombers and gun and knife attacks on Israelis.

The Gaza-Israel border protests were less crowded on Friday than in earlier weeks. Hundreds, instead of thousands, gathered at the border camps, burning tyres as Israelis fired tear gas.

Elsewhere, the first Friday prayers of Ramadan passed peacefuly - including in Jerusalem, where tens of thousands gathered to pray at Al-Aqsa mosque.

(For a graphic on 'Map of Gaza Crossings and Protest Sites' click tmsnrt.rs/2wP39MO)

Bomb blast kills two in Alexandria ahead of Egypt presidential vote

March 24, 2018  14H:56  GMT/UTC/ZULU TIME

by Nasra Ismail and Biodun Iginla,  BBC News and Reuters, Cairo

CAIRO - A bomb placed under a car exploded in Egypt’s second city Alexandria on Saturday, killing two people including a policeman, two days before the country is due to hold a presidential election.

Smoke billows at the scene of a bombing in Alexandria, Egypt March 24, 2018 in this still image taken from a video obtained by Reuters. Mohamed Emad/via REUTERS

The bombing, which wounded four other policemen, targeted Alexandria’s security chief, police Major General Mostafa al-Nemr, the interior ministry said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing. Islamic State released a video last month in which it warned Egyptians against taking part in the upcoming vote and urged Islamists to attack security forces and leaders.

State news agency MENA quoted Nemr as saying that two people, a policeman and a driver, were killed in the blast.

Photos on social media that we at Reuters could not independently verify showed a burnt out car and smoke at the site of the blast.

“On Saturday March 24 an explosive device planted underneath a car exploded ... as the Alexandria security chief drove by,” the interior ministry said in a statement.

Eyewitnesses said police and military personnel formed a cordon around the site of the explosion. Local television stations later showed Nemr unharmed and inspecting the area.

The scene of a bombing is seen in Alexandria, Egypt March 24, 2018 in this still image taken from a video obtained by Reuters. Mohamed Emad/via REUTERS

INSURGENCY

Islamic State attempted to assassinate Egypt’s defense and interior ministers in December during a trip the pair made to the Sinai Peninsula, where the hardline militant group has been waging an insurgency for almost five years.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Friday that Islamic State militants would soon be defeated in the Sinai as he visited troops battling the jihadists there.

Polls will open on Monday when voters choose between Sisi and one little-known candidate who supports the former field marshal. All credible opponents dropped out in January, citing intimidation by the authorities after the main challenger was jailed.

Sisi’s critics say he has cracked down harshly on dissent and that tough economic reforms have eroded his popularity. Supporters say such measures are needed to stabilize Egypt, which was rocked by years of unrest after protests toppled veteran leader Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

As military commander, Sisi led the ousting of Egypt’s only competitively-elected leader, President Mohamed Mursi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, who was toppled amid demonstrations against his rule in 2013, a year after taking power. Sisi took office with a landslide election victory a year later.

State news agency MENA blamed the Brotherhood, which is now banned in Egypt and designated a terrorist group, for Saturday’s bombing.

“This attempt comes in the context of terrorist Muslim Brotherhood elements trying to disrupt the electoral process and influence citizens into not going to the polls and participating in the presidential election,” the agency said.

Islamic State and other militant groups have successfully assassinated officials in recent years. Islamic State bombed a hotel in Sinai in 2015 during a parliamentary election, killing seven people including two judges overseeing the vote.

Egypt’s top public prosecutor, Hisham Barakat, was killed by a car bomb in June 2015.