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The man behind potential breakthrough in Hamas-Egypt ties

Hamas and Egypt appear to be adjusting their attitudes toward each other, and Fatah’s dismissed leader Mohammed Dahlan probably has a role in this regard.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (L) and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi attend a Gaza reconstruction conference in Cairo October 12, 2014. Egypt, which brokered a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza after a 50-day war, used a reconstruction conference in Cairo on Sunday to call for a wider peace deal based on a 2002 Arab initiative.  REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany (EGYPT - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR49UU5
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The relationship between Egypt and the Hamas party in Gaza might be thawing a bit, though no one seems to be interpreting Cairo's recent steps toward reconciliation as altruistic.

“It is safe to say that the gradual rapprochement between Hamas and Egypt is an Egyptian act of defiance, aimed at pressuring Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas into responding to Egyptian demands that Abbas reconcile with his arch rival [dismissed Fatah leader] Mohammed Dahlan and get him ready to succeed him," Raed Enairat, a political science professor at An-Najah National University in Nablus and the head of the Contemporary Center for Studies and Policy Analysis, told Al-Monitor.

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