Egypt played a major role in efforts to broker and secure a fragile Israel-Gaza war truce. Now that the catastrophic war is halted because of the truce, Egypt has been thrusted into the diplomatic spotlight, prompting top-level reengagement between Washington and overshadowing several Arab countries’ move to normalize ties with Israel.
In the wake of the recent Israel-Gaza war, which lasted for 11 days and was the deadliest one on record, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were rendered homeless as rocket shrapnel smashed into many apartment buildings in the Gaza Strip.
For many, until now, there’s still no home to return to.
But, the Israel-Gaza war truce provided Palestinians a chance to pick up the pieces. It successfully halted the Israel-Gaza war, and calm has returned to the Gaza Strip.
Leaving no stone unturned in the search for the Israel-Gaza cease-fire, Egypt successfully secured an Israel-Gaza war truce after making diplomatic rounds.
The efforts have earned Cairo recognition at a time when it was struggling to strike a rapport with the Biden administration amid differences on human rights, and to make headway on its top foreign policy goal – a deal to regulate an Ethiopian dam that Egypt sees as a major threat to its supplies of Nile water.
Egypt, which receives some US $1.3 billion of U.S. military aid every year, has also faced strong criticism from U.S. Democrats over its human rights record. And U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said human rights remained “very much on the agenda.”
While Palestinians figures, including top Hamas leaders, are due to visit Cairo to further bolster the fragile war truce, Egypt now is super pragmatic about its dealing with the Palestinian faction.
U.S. President Joe Biden was dragged into a vortex despite trying to pivot to Asia amid the Israel-Gaza crisis. But Egypt literally made Biden feel completely relieved when he was caught between a rock and a hard place, because Egypt successfully brokered a peace deal.
When compared to other Arab states, Egypt’s contribution to halting the war was much more visible, as other Arab states only played a limited role in securing the truce.
An awkward silence in Egypt’s contact with the White House, which had lasted since Biden’s inauguration in January this year, was suddenly broken after Egypt successfully secured the truce.
But be that as it may, some analysts say U.S. and Egyptian reengagement around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will still be limited due to the current lack of prospects for a peace process.
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