How Cairo Is Failing the Palestinians

Egypt recently hosted top US and Israeli officials for Israel-Hamas ceasefire discussions. But nine months into a war that Hamas launched, Egypt has often exacerbated the conflict and largely evaded criticism for intensifying Palestinian suffering.

CIA director Bill Burns, top Biden Middle East advisor Brett McGurk, and senior Israel officials arrived in Cairo earlier this month to discuss a ceasefire deal, the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, and mechanisms for securing the Egypt-Gaza border.

The last element is pivotal for weakening Hamas. The terrorist group has imported much of its weaponry via tunnels underneath the Gaza-Egypt border. Shutting off that valve is central to Israel’s war plans. In May, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed that it discovered around 20 tunnels along the Philadelphi Corridor, the strip of land that runs along the Egypt-Gaza border, most of which crossed into Egypt.

In 2013 and 2014, at the beginning of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s rule, Egypt reportedly destroyed more than 1,600 tunnels crisscrossing the Egypt-Gaza border. And in 2015, Egypt demolished thousands of homes on the Egyptian side of Rafah, along the border with Gaza, to prevent smuggling. However, in the years since, Egypt has become much laxer in anti-smuggling efforts, allowing Hamas to stockpile weapons.

There are several possible explanations for this reversal, including that it allowed Sisi to use the situation in Gaza as a tool for regional influence, keeping Egypt relevant in the Israeli-Palestinian arena as it competes with Qatar, Turkey, and Iran.

Embarrassment regarding his insufficient anti-smuggling efforts might explain why Sisi was so concerned about Israeli operations along the Egypt-Gaza border. For months, Rafah remained Hamas’ last bastion in Gaza. In May, Egypt warned of “dire consequences,” including downgraded bilateral relations, as Israel inched towards launching its Rafah offensive.

Egypt’s approach to Palestinian aid has also been worrisome. On October 12, just days after Hamas carried out its killing spree in southern Israel, Sisi stressed the importance of Palestinians remaining “steadfast and present on their lands.” In other words, Gazans were not welcome in Egypt. As over a million Palestinians gathered in Rafah in February, Egypt refused to allow them across the border into the Sinai.

Even wounded and sick Palestinians have largely not escaped this ban. In late June, Cairo allowed only a trickle of 19 Palestinians to enter Egypt for treatment. This was the first time in nearly two months that Egypt allowed wounded or sick Palestinians into the country. Recently, Egypt has reportedly refused to allow larger numbers of medical evacuations unless the Palestinians control the Gaza side of the border.

Egypt has justified its policies by claiming to fear that Israel would not allow Gazans to return after the fighting ended, pointing to the Palestinian experience in 1948. Egypt also argued that Hamas operatives would sneak into Sinai among refugees by posing as civilians and attacking Israel from Egyptian soil. Such developments would increase Israeli-Egyptian tensions.

When Cairo has let in Palestinians, it has reportedly exploited their suffering by charging exorbitant sums for entry permits. According to a New York Times report, an Egyptian tourism company with close ties to Egypt’s security establishment has been charging Gazans between $2,500 and $5,000 to exit the territory. According to NPR, on March 1 alone, 400 Palestinians paid around $1.3 million to exit through Egypt.

In recent months, Egypt has refused to coordinate with Israel on the entry of aid via the Rafah crossing, possibly to pressure Israel into making concessions to the Palestinians. Egypt wisely understands that international public opinion will castigate Israel for Palestinian suffering but ignore Egypt for adding to it.

To be sure, Israel has played down Egypt’s role as a spoiler, presumably to avoid embarrassing Egypt and thereby jeopardizing Israeli-Egyptian ties. Similarly, since 2007, Egypt and Israel coordinated on a blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, but only Israel received widespread criticism for it.

The lack of interest in Palestinian suffering not attributable to Israel was also apparent when around 3,000 or 4,000 Palestinians were killed in Syria’s civil war from 2011 to 2020, including approximately 500 or 600 Palestinians who died from torture. And in the Ein el-Hilweh camp in Lebanon, clashes between rival factions left 13 Palestinians dead in July 2023 and resumed in September.

You could be forgiven if you missed the street protests, university encampments, divestment calls, city council resolutions, or social media campaigns decrying these injustices; there weren’t any.

Egypt has frequently worsened Palestinian suffering, including by reportedly sabotaging Israel-Hamas ceasefire negotiations in May. As Egypt returns to the spotlight for the latest round of ceasefire negotiations, it is worth highlighting Egypt’s largely unhelpful role, even if Cairo receives a free pass in the court of public opinion.

David May (@DavidSamuelMay) is a research manager and senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, where Haisam Hassanein (@HaisamHassanei1) is an adjunct fellow. Follow FDD on Twitter @FDD. FDD is a Washington, DC-based nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.

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