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A longtime mediator, Egypt is maneuvering between Israel and the Palestinians to negotiate a lasting truce to the violence that has erupted in the Gaza Strip in recent months – but with the utmost discretion.
The deadly clashes that have taken place since the start of protests on March 30 along the Gaza-Israel border have raised fears of a new war between the Jewish state and Islamist Hamas rulers.
But on November 2, the border between the frozen enclave and Israel had one of the quietest Fridays since the start of the protest movement.
At least 218 Palestinians have been killed in clashes with Israeli soldiers in the past seven months or so, according to a statement by AFP. An Israeli soldier was shot dead in the violence.
Ongoing diplomatic efforts are aimed primarily at negotiating an agreement that Hamas should end the border demonstrations in exchange for Israel easing its crippling blockade that has lasted for a decade.
Search for lasting 'calm' & # 39;
Egypt has played a central role in these movements and the United Nations is also participating.
"We are working to ensure that there is never an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank," Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Sunday.
Indirect negotiations went on in secret and little information was filtered.
Egyptian media, including media close to the regime, cited only Palestinian sources or reports from Israel in their reports.
"Egypt is continuing its efforts to achieve lasting calm," a Hamas source told AFP, asking not to be named.
"There have been several meetings with the Hamas leadership and factions (other Palestinian) for this purpose."
An Egyptian diplomatic source said that Gaza was high on the state's list of priorities.
"All Egyptian agencies are mobilized for the problem," he told AFP, asking not to be named.
"The Egyptian authorities do not publish information because the negotiations are ongoing," he added.
Hamas-Fatah rift
The Egyptian intelligence service – rather than the Foreign Ministry – manages the Palestinian file.
"There are obviously diplomatic and political factors, but for them (the Egyptians) the situation is safe," said Zack Gold, Middle East Analyst at the NAC Research Center.
Since the Egyptian army overthrew Islamist President Mohamed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood movement in 2013, the northern Sinai Peninsula – which borders Gaza – has been affected by the insurgency of group of the Islamic State.
In February, the Egyptian army launched an offensive to neutralize jihadists in Sinai. Cairo has for years considered the entire region as a security priority.
He has been at the forefront of diplomacy in Gaza since 2014, when the last of the three wars between Hamas and Israel took place in the Palestinian enclave.
Egyptian mediation resulted in a ceasefire between Hamas and the Jewish state four years ago, but the fragility of this status quo has been tested regularly since then.
Despite Egypt's long-standing mistrust of Hamas – based on the Palestinian group's ties to the Muslim Brotherhood – Cairo has regularly sent delegations to the Gaza Strip.
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But beyond a ceasefire with Israel, the reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah, a rival Palestinian faction, is also critical to the success of Egypt's intervention, according to an Egyptian diplomatic source.
The Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, presided over by President Mahmoud Abbas, enjoys semi-autonomy in parts of the occupied West Bank, but lost control of the Gaza Strip by Hamas during A quasi-civil war between the two in 2007.
On Saturday, Abbas went to Egypt to discuss "dangers for the Palestinian cause" with Sisi, according to a statement from the Egyptian presidency.
As with the attempts to bring Hamas closer to Israel, mediation between the two Palestinian factions has not yet yielded convincing results, Gold said.
But Egypt's efforts have prevented the situation from deteriorating, he added.
In October 2017, in a rare broadcast for the media, Egyptian intelligence services celebrated the signing of a reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Fatah.
But this agreement has not produced concrete results on the ground.
So "there's really no reason for Egypt to put forward its involvement until … (this) has produced a positive result," Gold said.
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