By Shlomo Brom and Ofir Winter:
Without any formal ceremonies and far below the media’s radar, Egypt and Hamas have reached a series of security, political, and economic understandings in early 2017 aimed at establishing a basis for better relations between them. A Hamas delegation, headed by Vice-President of the Political Bureau Ismail Haniyeh and members of the Political Bureau Mousa Abu Marzook and Rawhi Mushtaha visited Cairo for several days in late January, during which the delegation met with Egyptian security personnel, led by Khaled Fawzy, the director of the General Intelligence Directorate. A Hamas security delegation, which included a senior representative of Hamas’ Izz ad-Din al-Qassam military arm, went on a follow-up visit in early February. The visits by the official delegations were the culmination of unofficial feelers conducted in October–November 2016, which included visits to Egypt by media, academic, and business figures from the Gaza Strip.
According to media reports, the political delegation accepted Cairo’s demands that Hamas stop the smuggling of weapons and infiltration of fighters along the border between Gaza and Sinai and prevent extremist jihad groups from using the Gaza Strip as a base for preparing attacks against Egyptian military forces in the Sinai Peninsula. The announcement published by Hamas stressed that it was scrupulously observing “non-intervention in the internal affairs” of Egypt, a hint at a commitment to refrain from taking sides in the struggle between the el-Sisi regime and the Muslim Brotherhood –mother organization of Hamas. The talks between the sides also dealt with a list of wanted people which Egypt gave to Hamas; the arrangement of an agreed-upon mechanism for opening the Rafah border crossing; expansion of trade relations between Egypt and the Gaza Strip; the ceasing of media attacks; and Egyptian mediation between Hamas and Israel and between Hamas and Fatah.