CAIRO — Even as the death toll mounts in the Gaza Strip, attempts to broker a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel have so far run aground — in part because they have become mired in the deep divisions between Mideast countries.
At the center of the problems is the bitter enmity between Egypt and its Gulf allies like Saudi Arabia on one side and Gaza’s Hamas rulers and its allies, Turkey and Qatar, on the other.
An Egyptian cease-fire proposal fell apart last week when Israel accepted it but Hamas rejected it. Hamas demanded greater guarantees for the lifting of the blockade of Gaza, enforced by Israel and Egypt. The Egyptian proposal called for both sides to halt hostilities unconditionally — dangling only a promise of further talks that could address the closure.
Qatar-based Hamas spokesman Hossam Badran described Cairo’s cease-fire proposal as “all but dead,” calling it a “surrender” to Israel.
He and other Hamas officials said they were instead turning to Qatar, which they said had an initiative that would address their demands, including the release of prisoners and giving unfettered access to the densely populated strip. That sparked accusations by Egypt that Hamas’ allies were undermining its role.
“The Hamas-Qatar-Turkey axis is trying to abort Egypt’s role, which is the region bulwark in the face of a plot aimed at fragmenting the region into rival mini-states,” said Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri on Thursday, just before Israel announced the start of its ground assault into Gaza.
Shukri said Egypt is in a “very tense and difficult” relationship with Hamas, where reaching common ground is nearly “impossible.”
On Saturday, Shukri said he knows of no other initiative and that “the Egyptian initiative remains the initiative on the table” with international support.
Speaking next to visiting French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, Shukri said there was no intention to amend the proposal, which he said meets the demands of both sides.
The tensions are rooted in the turmoil in Egypt over the past year. Hamas spawned off the Muslim Brotherhood, which Egypt’s government has branded a terrorist organization since the military’s ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi last summer. Egyptian authorities have been cracking down hard on Morsi’s Brotherhood and accuse Hamas of helping Islamic militants waging a campaign of violence in Egypt, a claim the group denies.
Egypt also has tightened the closure on Gaza by destroying smuggling tunnels under the border that were largely propping up the strip’s economy. That has thrown Hamas into a financial crisis.
Turkey and Qatar were also close allies of Morsi and the Brotherhood — and the result has been deep tensions between them and the government of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, the former army chief that ousted Morsi.
