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Can Gaza's Islamic Jihad ease tensions with Egypt?

Palestinian Islamic Jihad has been exerting efforts to open the Rafah crossing, angering Hamas, which believes the initiative will divide the Palestinian resistance.
Palestinians gather at the Rafah border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip as they await permission to enter Egypt on March 10, 2015. Egypt is due to reopen its Rafah border crossing with Gaza for two days, for the fourth time since it was closed after a suicide bombing in the Sinai Peninsula in October 2014. AFP PHOTO / SAID KHATIB        (Photo credit should read SAID KHATIB/AFP/Getty Images)
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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The efforts of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) to restore the relations between Egypt and Hamas have seemingly yielded positive results. These have been exemplified by the opening of the Rafah border crossing on March 8-9, the first time since its closure on Jan. 22. Also, Egypt’s State Lawsuits Authority filed on March 11 an appeal with Cairo’s Court for Urgent Matters to review the latter’s designation of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades and the Hamas movement as terrorist organizations.

A source from the PIJ office in the Gaza Strip told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that the initiative focused on the opening of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, provided that the Presidential Guard of President Mahmoud Abbas runs and guards the crossing in the coming period. The source said the initiative also focused on the resumption of Egyptian efforts sponsoring Palestinian reconciliation and the defusing of tension between the Hamas movement and Egypt.

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