A Temporary Thaw in Egyptian-PA Relations

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi hosted his Palestinian Authority counterpart Mahmoud Abbas this week in Cairo for the first official summit between the two leaders in nearly a year. The two-day summit was billed as a chance for both sides to coordinate ahead of an upcoming Arab League summit and separately planned White House visits. The real purpose of the meeting was to restore ties after months of tension between Sisi and Abbas. Though both sides hailed the meeting as a breakthrough, ties will likely remain strained.

At the center of the Sisi-Abbas friction is Gaza. Sisi wants calm in the Hamas-dominated and volatile coastal enclave. Abbas and his West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA) have little sway there. So, Sisi has reached out to other actors with influence in Gaza, most notably Mohammad Dahlan. The long-time PA security chief in Gaza was exiled by Abbas in 2011 and remains the embattled Palestinian leader’s top rival.

Sisi sees Dahlan as a potential partner and possible successor to Abbas. In 2015, he asked Dahlan to help mediate a treaty on the Nile River dam with Sudan and Ethiopia. Egyptian authorities have also negotiated with Dahlan on opening the Rafah crossing into Gaza. In return, Sisi has allowed Dahlan to operate politically in Egypt. In fact, just last month, Dahlan held a conference of Fatah dissidents and Abbas critics in Cairo. Last September, Dahlan leaked a phone conversation with the head of Egyptian intelligence mocking Abbas. All of this has infuriated Abbas and his loyalists in Ramallah, who regularly complain about interference in Palestinian politics.

Tensions between Abbas and Sisi recently reached their zenith in December when Egypt proposed a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlement construction, only to withdraw it days later. Palestinian officials blasted Sisi’s move as a betrayal and an acquiescence to incoming President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A month later, Egypt banned Jibril Rajoub – a senior Fatah official and Abbas ally – from entering the country.

All of this makes claims of rapprochement after this week’s summit hard to believe. Even so, Sisi and Abbas need each other in the Trump era – at least right now. Abbas sees value in closer ties with Sisi, who was among the first to call President Trump after his election and has reportedly made inroads with the new administration. Sisi, for his part, sees that Trump appears serious in his desire to negotiate Israeli-Palestinian peace, and knows that he may need to help deliver Abbas to the negotiating table.

But even this mutual arrangement could be short-lived. If and when the administration abandons its push for peace, these long-standing tensions are bound to resurface.

Grant Rumley is a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Follow him on Twitter @GrantRumley