Israel’s Naftali Bennett met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday, on the first visit to the North African country by a prime minister of the Jewish state in over a decade.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Sisi was hosting Bennett in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to discuss “efforts to revive the peace process” between the Israelis and Palestinians, presidential spokesman Bassam Radi.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country, in 1979 became the first Arab state to sign a peace treaty with Israel, after decades of enmity.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
In May, it played a key role in brokering a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas that rules the Gaza Strip, after 11 days of deadly fighting.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Egypt regularly receives leaders of Hamas as well as of its political rival the Palestinian Authority led by Mahmud Abbas, while maintaining strong diplomatic, security and economic ties with Israel.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid on Sunday proposed improving living conditions in Gaza and building new infrastructure in exchange for calm from Hamas, aiming to solve the “never-ending rounds of violence”.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
But “it won’t happen without the support and involvement of our Egyptian partners and without their ability to talk to everyone involved”, he said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Bennett’s visit comes about 10 days after Abbas was in Cairo for talks with Sisi.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Monday’s talks mark “an important step in light of the growing security and economic relations between the two countries, and their mutual concern over the situation in Gaza”, Cairo-based analyst Nael Shama told AFP.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
It also fits with “Egypt’s plans to revive the political talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority”, he added.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
– Security cooperation –<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The last meeting between an Egyptian president and an Israeli premier dates back to January 2011 when Hosni Mubarak received Benjamin Netanyahu, weeks before Mubarak was toppled in a popular revolution.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
In the political turbulence that followed, relations between the two countries deteriorated as protests were staged outside the Israeli embassy in Cairo in 2011.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The one-year reign of Egypt’s Islamist president Mohamed Morsi from 2012 also proved to be icy, with Israel suspicious of his Muslim Brotherhood’s close ties to Hamas.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Sisi has again positioned Egypt as a regional bulwark of stability, echoing the frequent peace summits overseen by Mubarak before his ouster.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Israel and Egypt are two of Washington’s main allies in the Middle East and are the largest recipients of US military aid, and they have worked together on security issues.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Sisi, in a 2019 interview on CBS, acknowledged Egypt’s army was working closely with Israel in combating “terrorists” in the restive North Sinai.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
He underscored Cairo’s “wide range of cooperation with the Israelis”.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The relationship developed after Egypt regained sovereignty over the Sinai Peninsula, which Israel occupied in the 1967 Six-Day War.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Egyptian forces have for years fought an insurgency in the Sinai, led mainly by a local affiliate of the Islamic State group.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The two neighbours have also deepened their ties in the field of energy. Since last year, Egypt has received natural gas from Israel to liquefy it and re-export it to Europe.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
– Message to Washington –<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Bennett’s visit follows on from a “long working relationship” that Sisi maintained with Netanyahu, said Shama, author of a book on Egypt’s foreign policy.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The right-wing religious nationalist Bennett took office in June, ending Netanyahu’s 12 straight years as Israel’s premier.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“Cairo intends once again to signal to the Biden administration its indispensable role in stabilising the Palestinian-Israeli conflict,” Shama said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Popular sentiment on the ground in Egypt has also toned down from being resolutely hostile towards Israel, amid a more severe crackdown on dissent under Sisi.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“Sisi has succeeded in taming the opposition and absorbing other political movements,” said Cairo University political science professor Mustapha Kamel al-Sayyid.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Israel last year signed normalisation deals with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan under the aegis of Donald Trump’s administration.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Source: National News Agency<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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