Naftali Bennett traveled to Egypt: it is the first visit by an Israeli prime minister in 10 years

Egypt, the most populous Arab country and the first to sign a peace deal with Israel, received the Israeli prime minister on Monday Naftali Bennett, Something that has not happened since 2011.

With borders to the east with the Gaza Strip and Israel, Egypt acted as mediator in May to end the blitzkrieg between Israel and the Islamist movement Hamas, Which has controlled this Palestinian enclave since 2007.

Bound with Israel by a peace treaty since 1979, Egypt regularly receives Hamas as well as its rival, the Palestinian Authority led by Mahmoud Abbas, while maintaining diplomatic, trade and security relations with Israel. .

A few days after receiving the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, Egyptian President Abdel Fatah at the Sisi will meet with Bennett, resuming frequent meetings until the 2011 popular uprising in Egypt and non-existent since then.

Both of us met in Sharm al-Sheikh, on the Red Sea, on “efforts to revive the peace process” between Israelis and Palestinians, presidential spokesman Basam Radi said in a statement.

On Sunday, when he proposed “improving” the living conditions of Gazans in exchange for a commitment to “calm” by Hamas, the head of Israeli diplomacy, Yair Lapid, reiterated “the vital importance of Egypt “.

This project, he stressed, “will not see the light of day without the support and participation of Egyptian partners and their ability to speak with all parties involved.”

According to Nael Shama, an Egyptian foreign policy specialist, Bennett’s visit is an “important step given the development of economic and security relations” between the two countries and their “common concern” over Gaza, and also for the Egyptian project of “reactivating political talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority “

Cooperation in the Sinai

In 2019, on the American network CBS, Sisi had acknowledged that his army was operating alongside Israel against “terrorists” in northern Sinai (east), calling this cooperation the “closest” one had ever existed between the two neighbors.

Under the peace treaty that ended the state of war between the two countries, Egypt has regained sovereignty over the Israeli-occupied Sinai Peninsula since 1967, but on condition of demilitarizing the area.

However, since 2013 it has been facing an insurgency led by a branch of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group.

Both countries too they have developed their ties in the energy field, A strategic issue in the eastern Mediterranean, and from 2020, Egypt will receive natural gas from Israel to liquefy and re-export to Europe, a deal valued at 13.3 billion euros ($ 15.7 billion).

The last meeting between an Egyptian president and an Israeli prime minister – who has power in Israel – dates back to January 2011. The late Hosni Mubarak received then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

A few days later, Mubarak was overthrown by a popular uprising, followed two years later by the overthrow of his successor Mohammad Mursi and the seizure of power by Sisi.

(With information from AFP)

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