The next few days may determine the future of the relationship between Egypt and Hamas

The regime in Cairo has once again accused the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement — Hamas — of disturbing the peace and security of Egypt. Joint blame has been laid at the door of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood for the assassination of former Attorney General, Hisham Barakat, who was killed in January last year.

It is common knowledge that the relationship between Cairo and Hamas has experienced several low points, which were only worsened by the Egyptian security forces and their investment in exacerbating the relationship. The judiciary and media have also played a direct and influential role in increasing tensions by accusing Hamas of being responsible for Egypt’s energy and electricity crisis, the depletion of gas resources, the increase in petroleum prices, the inflation of the Egyptian pound and compromising the security situation in the Sinai Peninsula as well as Cairo. To the same extent, the Egyptian authorities are guilty of demonising those who have passed away because of their affiliation with Hamas; Ahmed Al-Jabari and Hassan Salameh, for example, were both accused of plotting a coup against the Egyptian regime.

Is this a new wave of accusations or merely a media tactic that aims to divert attention away from the deteriorating security situation in Sinai and Cairo as well as the Egyptian government’s failure to conduct the economic affairs and public services of its own people? Does the regime not want to face up to its own internal problems?

Such things may be compared with similar experiences during the Mubarak era, when the then president accused Hamas of being responsible for the bombing of the Coptic Saints Church in Alexandria in 2011, in which around 120 people were killed or wounded. It was later proven that the incident was planned and executed for political purposes by the Interior Ministry, headed by Habib Al-Adli.

Seeking an external bogey upon whom the blame for internal crises can be placed is a common tactic of governments around the world. Nevertheless, there are some important points that are specific to the accusation that Hamas is responsible for Barakat’s assassination.

Consider the fact that the Israeli ambassador to Cairo, Haim Koren, told the BBC recently that it is natural for Egypt and Israel to cooperate because they have a common enemy in Hamas. He also accused the group of jeopardising Egyptian security and state authority in the Sinai through terrorist acts.

Or that Hamas’s main Palestinian rival, Fatah, announced recently that it would support any and all of Egypt’s punitive actions against the Islamic movement following the assassination. It is worth noting the remarks made by leading Fatah official Jibril Al-Rajoub at the end of February: “Fatah will take out new measures to gain control of Gaza. There will be no new meetings between Fatah and Hamas to end the national division.”

Furthermore, Egypt’s Minister of the Interior Abdul-Ghaffar said that the assassination of Barakat “was executed due to orders from the branch of the Muslim Brotherhood living in Turkey.” Various Egyptian media outlets have also expressed their view that Turkey’s support for the Palestinian cause is in itself “sponsoring terrorism”. It would not be far-fetched to say that Egypt’s Fatah-sponsored position is one of the factors behind the failure of negotiations between Ankara and Tel Aviv last month, as the Turkish government placed the lifting of the siege of Gaza as one of the main conditions for the resumption of normal political relations between the two countries.

Consider also the closure of the Rafah border crossing by Egypt and the flooding of the tunnels in Gaza. The government in Cairo has built a wall separating the people of Gaza from their neighbours, and there has been a significant increase in Egyptian security forces in Sinai.

The above mentioned observations point to a comprehensive siege on the Gaza Strip and the creation of an imaginary enemy of the Egyptian people, embodied by Hamas, which the government hopes will distract them from the real domestic issues facing Egypt. The regime is trying to deflect any and all questions about its own culpability.

The Egyptian regime’s demonising of Hamas may be a way to ensure that no real solution can be reached. Or it may be that the situation is escalating slowly but surely to the point where military intervention by Egypt in the Gaza Strip becomes “necessary”, at the instigation of Fatah and Israel.

The coming days may determine the future of the relationship between Cairo and Hamas. I think that it is fair to say, though, that the Egyptian regime’s volatile approach to crisis management will not work to the benefit of the Palestinian cause in the foreseeable future.

Translated from Alkhaleejonline, 8 March, 2016.

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