The prospects for peace in Gaza remain dim this week, despite the positive sign that the Egyptian government has thrown its weight behind negotiating a cease-fire.
Following years of internal turmoil and political instability, Egypt on Tuesday called for a new round of peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians, offering what has become its traditional service of brokering an end to the perennial violence between the two. Egypt, the U.S. and other world leaders will work "to not only resolve this issue but also to set in motion once again the peace process that [Secretary of State John Kerry] has been so actively involved in so as to end this ongoing conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis,” said Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri, after meeting with Kerry in Egypt on Tuesday.
The news was met with optimism from the U.S. chief diplomat.
“The United States is very grateful for Egypt’s leadership and we’re here today – I am here personally at the request of President Obama – to immediately try to find a way to support Egypt’s initiative,” Kerry said.
But friendly public displays mask less-than-rosy relations between the U.S. and Egypt, questioning how this latest peace overture will fit in with Kerry’s signature work for Israeli-Palestinian peace.
The Obama administration has been reluctant to recognize the legitimacy of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. The former Egyptian military commander-in-chief led a forcible ouster of the democratically elected President Mohammed Morsi in July 2013 over concerns the government was too aligned with Morsi's conservative Muslim Brotherhood political party.
Chilly relations may have prompted Egyptian security officers to force Kerry and his senior staff to pass through metal detectors before meeting with el-Sissi on Tuesday, according to Reuters, in a rare diplomatic slight.
Both the Israeli and Palestinian delegations to the U.N. leaned heavily on these visceral aspects of the current violence. While giving testimony during a Security Council meeting Tuesday morning, Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour paused to hold up pictures of what he says were victims of Israeli military strikes and attacks.
“We are not numbers, we are human beings,” Mansour said in response to reports of the rising death toll, while holding back tears.
Ambassador David Roet, Israel’s deputy permanent representative, countered in subsequent remarks with details of the intricate tunnel system that Hamas fighters have used to attack Israeli forces and settlements.
“Imagine what it is like falling asleep wondering if a terrorist is tunneling under your home,” Roet said. He cited the tunnel network and rocket attacks, along with the widely reported kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teens in early July that began the latest violence.
“What do you expect us to do?” he asked.
Egypt’s overtures could lead to actual cease-fire negotiations that get at “the deeper problems in Gaza” that have brought about these tensions, says Malka. But that can only happen if all sides are ready for it.
