CAIRO (AP) --
The Gaza cease-fire deal reached Thursday marks a startling trajectory
for Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi: an Islamist leader who refuses to
talk to Israelis or even say the country's name mediated for it and
finally turned himself into Israel's de facto protector.
The
accord inserts Egypt to an unprecedented degree into the conflict
between Israel and Hamas, establishing it as the arbiter ensuring that
militant rocket fire into Israel stops and that Israel allows the
opening of the long-blockaded Gaza Strip and stops its own attacks
against Hamas.
In return, Morsi emerged as a
major regional player. He won the trust of the United States and Israel,
which once worried over the rise of an Islamist leader in Egypt but
throughout the week-long Gaza crisis saw him as the figure most able to
deliver a deal with Gaza's Hamas rulers.
"I
want to thank President Morsi for his personal leadership to de-escalate
the situation in Gaza and end the violence," U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton, who met Morsi Thursday, said at a Cairo press
conference with Egypt's foreign minister announcing the accord.
"This
is a critical moment for the region. Egypt's new government is assuming
the responsibility and leadership that has long made this country a
cornerstone of regional stability and peace," she said.
After
Israel launched its assault on Gaza a week ago, aimed at stopping
militant rocket fire, Morsi's palace in a Cairo suburb became the Middle
East's diplomacy central.
He held talks with
Turkey's prime minister and the emir of Qatar, Germany's foreign
minister and a host of top Arab officials to get them behind his
mediation. An Israeli envoy flew secretly into Cairo for talks with
Egyptian security officials, though Morsi did not meet or speak directly
with any Israelis.
Throughout it all, Morsi
and his aides sided openly with Hamas, accusing Israel of starting the
assault and condemning its bombardment, which has killed more than 140
Palestinians. Five Israelis have been killed by Hamas rocket fire during
the battle.
Morsi hails from the
fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's most powerful political group
and Hamas' own parent organization. Brotherhood leaders, including
Morsi, refuse to speak to Israeli officials. Morsi hasn't even said the
name of the country publicly since he was inaugurated in late June,
though he has referred to its people as "Israelis."
In
ideology, the Brotherhood supports the use of force against Israel to
liberate "Muslim lands." Only two months ago, Brotherhood supreme leader
Mohammed Badie proclaimed that regaining Jerusalem can "only come
through holy jihad." The group opposes Egypt's 1979 peace treaty with
Israel.
But since coming to power, the group
has had to yield to pragmatism. The Brotherhood and Morsi have promised
to abide by the peace accord. Through a military operation and through
dialogue, Morsi has tried to rein in Islamic militants in the Sinai
Peninsula who have attacked Egyptian security forces and across the
border into Israel.
When the Israeli offensive
began, President Barack Obama spoke to Morsi after talking to Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. While Obama and Morsi disagreed over
whom to blame for the violence, they agreed to work together to halt it.
That
Israel was comfortable with an Islamist like Morsi mediating may not be
a measure of trust as much as a realization that only the Egyptians can
persuade their Hamas cousins to enter a deal and ensure an end to
rocket attacks.
The cease-fire announced
Thursday defines Egypt as the "sponsor" of the deal to which each side
would appeal over violations. That potentially puts Egypt in the
uncomfortable position of ensuring militants in Gaza don't fire rockets.
If the deal falls apart - whichever side is to blame - Egypt could face
damage to its credibility or strained ties with one side or the other.
Egypt's
first freely elected president, Morsi also handled the Gaza conflict in
a way starkly contrasting with his predecessor, longtime authoritarian
leader Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled nearly two years ago.
An
ally of Israel and deeply opposed to Hamas, Mubarak's regime helped
Israel blockade Gaza after Hamas seized the territory in 2007. When
Israel and Hamas last went to war in 2008, Mubarak was accused by
critics of secretly supporting Israel's ground offensive.
During
that offensive, far bloodier than the past week's, Mubarak kept the
sole border passenger crossing between Egypt and Gaza mostly shut,
preventing some of the more seriously wounded Palestinians from
receiving treatment in Egyptian hospitals. Mubarak's regime was also
wary of any deals that would legitimize Hamas' rule in Gaza. Mubarak
feared that a strong Hamas would embolden Islamists at home,
particularly his nemesis, the Brotherhood.
Morsi
has not completely thrown open the crossing as Hamas would like. But
during the past week, Egypt let in wounded Palestinians and bolstered
Hamas with waves of delegations entering Gaza to show their support -
from Egyptian activists to the foreign ministers of Turkey, Qatar,
Algeria, Sudan and others.
Morsi also
dispatched his prime minister to Gaza soon after hostilities began on a
heavily symbolic visit. A photograph of a tearful Hesham Kandil kissing
the lifeless body of a Palestinian child was splashed across the front
page of every Cairo newspaper.
Since his
presidency began, Morsi has used foreign policy to make a splash.
Critics say that allows him a high international profile with little
accountability and is easier than tackling the daily hardship of a
population already weighed down by unemployment, price hikes and surging
crime.
Morsi began with a hard hitting speech
in Iran last August calling on Tehran's ally Syrian President Bashar
Assad to step down. He founded a working group with Iran, Turkey and
Saudi Arabia to look for an end to Syria's civil war. It has gone
nowhere and the Saudis have since pulled out, but, Morsi is none the
worse for it.
Gaza is more hazardous for him
if the cease-fire fails. Egyptians feel strongly about what they see as
decades of suffering by the Palestinians at the hands of Israel. Their
opposition to Israel runs deep after four full-blown wars with it in six
decades. A resumption of Israeli attacks on Gaza, for example, could
land Morsi in hot water with the Egyptian public.
Also,
Morsi has to contend with growing criticism by critics that his
preoccupation with Gaza pulled him away from pressing issues at home.
More
than 50 children were killed last week when their school bus was hit by
a train at a railway crossing in southern Egypt, an incident that led
to charges of negligence against Morsi's government. Street protests
against his policies and the Brotherhood left one person dead and
hundreds wounded in Cairo since Monday. Charges of illegitimacy now
swirl around a panel drafting a new constitution after liberals and
Christians pulled out in protest against the domination of the process
by Morsi's Islamist allies.
On top of that,
Egypt announced Tuesday it reached an initial understanding with the
International Monetary Fund for a $4.8 billion loan to kick-start the
ailing economy. Egypt will have to reduce subsidies from basic items
like fuel, risking social unrest over price hikes.
"Morsi's
popularity can't go on eroding like this forever" without a backlash,
said rights activist Mohsen Kamal. "He is vulnerable to dramatic and
maybe even violent changes if he ignores what is happening."
Sensing
the mounting problems at home, Morsi called off plans to travel to
Pakistan for a summit of eight Islamic nations, sending his vice
president instead.
Morsi will stay home, an
official announcement said, "to follow up on domestic issues and the
observation by all parties of the cease-fire in Gaza."
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