Tuesday's edition of the Jordanian Al-Ghad newspaper alleges that serious differences that have arisen between Hamas and Cairo may threaten to undermine recent Egyptian efforts to bring warring Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, towards an internal compromise.
An unnamed official states that Egypt is unhappy with Hamas's alleged attempt to tie talks over the captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit to a prisoner exchange deal, while Egypt's hesitation in hosting talks on reopening the Rafah crossing (pictured above) has come to anger Hamas. According to Al-Ghad, while Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zahri maintains that his party is interested in maintaining its good relations with Cairo, he does acknowledge that his party and Egypt have come to disagree over the handling of these two key issues.
But can Hamas afford to have these disagreements take precedence over the goal of internal Palestinian accord and the need of a third party's participation in facilitating such an outcome? Perhaps Egypt's control over the Rafah crossing, and its role in maintaining the current blockade of Gaza, leads one to ask if the current circumstances warrant the intervention of another Arab state to help diffuse the internal Palestinian crisis.
