The shared ambitions of Abbas, Al-Sisi and the international community

While Egypt proceeds with facilitating Israel’s colonial oppression of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Mahmoud Abbas met President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi in Cairo on Saturday, ostensibly to discuss the recent violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. More rhetoric about “ending these practices” – a reference to Israel’s illegal settlement construction and expansion – provided sufficient fodder for both leaders to avoid a proper discussion regarding the Palestinian uprising against the dominant narrative, through which further subjugation is expected.

According to Ma’an new agency, Abbas and Al-Sisi agreed that an end to settlement construction “could pave the way for the resumption of peace talks with Israel and the Palestinian Authority.” Referring to Egypt’s current endeavours to destroy the lifeline tunnel network under its border with Gaza, Al-Sisi declared that this “could never be meant to harm the Palestinian brothers in the Gaza Strip” and should be regarded simply as a means to secure the border. Echoing last year’s US hypothesis of the Ramallah-based pliant PA taking control of Gaza, Al-Sisi stated that living conditions for Palestinians in the enclave would improve should that happen, and the Rafah border crossing would operate normally.

The meeting exhibited the sinister framework which the PA is no longer bothering to conceal. Political violence has become one of the authority’s main assets, albeit it is scorned by Palestinians. Yet, between security coordination with Israel and collaborating with Egypt to destroy the tunnels and deprive Palestinians in Gaza of both autonomous use of the territory and the means through which to get basic supplies, the PA is extending its complicity not only to the government in Tel Aviv, but also its closest regional ally.

The way that Abbas and Al-Sisi discuss security shows clearly that the rhetoric employed by Israel and the PA has extended to Egypt. The talk regarding borders, however, is even more specious. Israel’s refusal to state what its territorial boundaries are is to be expected, given that it aims to establish Zionism’s “Greater Israel” and so needs to expand constantly (hence the colonisation and land grabs). The PA’s willingness to advocate for the two-state compromise acceptable to the international community is testimony to its refusal to push for any form of control over Israel’s colonial expansion. However, acquiescing to further territorial oppression instigated by Egypt demonstrates a practical approach used by the PA in order to ensure the further destruction of Gaza and, in the process, eliminate resistance in the enclave, leading to even less possibility of any kind of Palestinian statehood, no matter how indeterminate it might be.

More than a year after Operation Protective Edge, Gaza is still suffering the humiliation of the international community’s insidious diplomacy. Only one home has been rebuilt so far, which leads to the logical assessment that the international community, as well as the PA, is very amenable to Gaza’s permanent destruction. Palestinians in the West Bank have risen up against an intricate web of complicity that also incorporates the international community’s adamant refusal to remedy the illegality recognised by the UN. In the midst of all the intentional cacophony, the PA is, through its actions and allegiances, moving from deliberate ambiguity to outright rejection of Palestinian autonomy.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.