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Draft truce between Israel and Hamas provokes ‘intense tension’ between PA and Egypt

The draft of a truce between Israel and Hamas has triggered deteriorating ties between Egypt and the PA. 

By: World Israel News Staff

The relationship between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Egypt is “very tense” in light of PA President Mahmoud Abbas’ rejection of a possible truce between Hamas and Israel that Egypt has been mediating.

Israel and Hamas are reportedly on the brink of signing a year-long ceasefire.

An Egyptian security source said he expects the agreement will be announced next week after the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha.

The Arabic language daily al-Hayat reported Sunday that the majority of Palestinian factions in Cairo have agreed to a ceasefire with Israel, while Fatah has so far rejected it.

The Palestinian Central Council (PCC), at the end of its meetings in Ramallah on Friday night, said that a truce with Israel is “a national responsibility of the Palestine Liberation Organization as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people and not an action for the factions [from Gaza].”

The PCC asserted that there will be no separate state in the Gaza Strip or a Palestinian state without the Gaza Strip.

Fatah has not yet joined the factions’ delegations in Cairo. A senior Fatah source told al-Hayat that a delegation would travel to Cairo after the meeting with Egyptian intelligence officials has ended.

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The Palestinian sources told al-Hayat that most of the Palestinian factions in Cairo have agreed to a possible truce, but not the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). “The priority must be for reconciliation [between the Palestinians] before the truce,” the PFLP reportedly told Egyptian intelligence officials.

Israeli radio quoted a senior Palestinian source in Ramallah as saying that Abbas will stop transferring funds to the Gaza Strip if Hamas signs a truce agreement.