Truce Enshrines Egypt’s Mediator Role in Gaza Wars

Yahoo News (Off AFP)

05 August 2014

The Gaza truce drawn up by Egypt shows Cairo has an “indispensable” role mediating conflicts between Israel and Hamas, despite strained ties with the Palestinian faction, analysts said Tuesday.

Israel withdrew all of its forces from Gaza on Tuesday after nearly a month-long deadly campaign, as a 72-hour ceasefire announced by Cairo went into effect.

The truce started at 0500 GMT, just days after a similar attempt by the United Nations and the United States to secure a three-day ceasefire from Friday — without Egyptian involvement — fell through.

… “The fact that the Israelis had started to withdraw made the (Egyptian) ceasefire much more feasible,” said James Dorsey of the Singapore-based S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

“Israel began withdrawing as it felt it has significantly damaged Palestinian military capability, and it will take a very long time for Palestinians to rebuild.”

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