Two senior Egyptian officials told the newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat that any possibility of a meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is contingent on steps Israel takes regarding the Palestinian issue and on a complete halt to discussions of “forced migration of Palestinians,” which they said constitutes the elimination of the Palestinian cause and a direct threat to Egypt’s security.
According to the officials, Cairo learned of the American initiative to bring the two sides together only through the media, without prior contacts with Washington. One of them noted that there is a significant difference between inviting Netanyahu to the signing ceremony of the Gaza agreement in Sharm el-Sheikh and holding an official meeting, since his participation in the ceremony was perceived as an Israeli endorsement of an agreement that does not include forced migration of Palestinian Arabs.