Palestinians pinning their hopes on Sisi
Egypt wants to advance a regional security coalition that will cooperate with Washington not only in the fight against Iranian-sponsored terror, but also for ending the Israeli occupation.
The Palestinian leadership is placing its main hopes for a two-state solution process on Egypt. While Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is well-aware of the close relationship the Donald Trump administration has with Saudi King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Ramallah estimates that only Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has the operational capacity to create a pragmatic Arab coalition in coordination with Washington. This coalition would not only work to deter Iran’s nuclear and regional terror ambitions, but will also focus on advancing a peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. This was conveyed to Al-Monitor by a senior Palestinian Authority (PA) minister who also deals with security matters and has the ear of Abbas. This minister is also in contact with Egyptian intelligence officials.
Cairo's relations with Ramallah are strained over the situation in the Gaza Strip. Contrary to Abbas, who wants the weakening of Hamas, Egypt wishes to strengthen Gaza economically and politically for the sake of security stability. But despite this disputed issue, Egypt remains the main ally of the Palestinians on statehood and regional strategy issues.
According to the PA minister, Egypt’s regional vision is to shape a new pragmatic regional coalition heavily supported by the Trump administration that will uphold Egypt’s leadership role in the Arab world on all political and security matters (less so on economic issues).
The minister noted that Cairo considers Tehran to be a threat to the stability of the region, especially in Syria and Lebanon, through its own forces and Hezbollah. Sisi was the driving force behind isolating Qatar because of Qatar’s ties with Iran and its allies, including Hamas. The Egyptian president pushed for parliament to approve on June 15 the turnover of the Red Sea islands Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia, in return for generous Saudi economic assistance.
