Egypt betrayed the Palestinians at their most critical moment.

Part of the series "Struggle and Solidarity: Writing Towards the Liberation of Palestine." "Hunger is Inevitable" in the northern Gaza Strip, where, according to estimates from the UN World Food Program, over 70 percent of the population is facing catastrophic hunger. Israeli journalist Tzvi Barel reported that "the residents of Gaza are gathering weeds to prepare food, and mothers cannot breastfeed due to their weakness." More than five months have passed, and over 32,000 Palestinians have died for the UN Security Council to finally pass a resolution for a ceasefire. But a possible end to the war does not mean an end to death. During the holy month of Ramadan, many Palestinians in the Gaza Strip broke their fast with just a few pieces of bread and a glass of water, if at all. According to Doctors Without Borders, conditions in Rafah are extremely dire: many families have been forced to move several times and have little property. They are sheltering in fragile, unheated tents, with limited access to water, sanitation, food, or medical assistance. Tens of thousands continue to flow into Rafah from neighboring Khan Younis, where the fighting has been fierce.

One of the most distressing ironies surrounding the current status of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip is that approximately 1.5 million starving and dying Palestinians in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, have thousands of trucks with humanitarian aid on the Egyptian side that cannot cross the border. There are three crossings in the Gaza Strip. One of them is the Rafah crossing, located on the border of the Sinai Peninsula, 7.5 miles from Egypt. The other two crossings are Erez, where people cross into Israel from the northern Gaza Strip, and Kerem Shalom, a commercial crossing for goods with Israel on the southern border of the Gaza Strip. Both of these crossings are fully controlled by Israel.

Now that Israel considers the entire Gaza Strip a military zone and controls its borders, the Rafah crossing has become the main target for sending humanitarian aid to Gaza. Knowing that the population of Gaza is around 2.3 million people, we can sense how serious the situation is, as more than half of the population is seeking shelter in Rafah to escape the conflict in other parts of the Gaza Strip. Moreover, the humanitarian aid being sent to Gaza from around the world, not just from Egypt, has no other way to enter except through the Rafah crossing. This reality is a significant pressure on Egypt, but it is also a responsibility.

It seems unlikely to assume that the United States will take a more just position regarding Israel's genocidal war against Palestine. The U.S. has already vetoed all efforts to adopt a ceasefire resolution and has decided to allow the passage of a resolution after five months and two weeks of war. What about Egypt? More than other Arab countries, Egypt has a historical, political, and humanitarian responsibility towards the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

In the end, it is the only Arab country that borders Gaza, and its population suffers from war, hunger, and genocide. However, it is not surprising that Egypt's attitude towards Gaza is ambiguous. Egypt expresses verbal solidarity with the Palestinians, but at the same time acts in collusion with the USA, Israel, and other Arab autocrats in their campaigns against the Palestinians. Egyptian leaders constantly speak about the hunger and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, yet they do not take radical actions to embody this solidarity. On the night of October 7, 2023, Egypt was attacked by Hamas-controlled forces targeting Israel, and the subsequent Israeli war in Gaza was planned by Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) - plans that disregard the Palestinians' right to self-determination while simultaneously continuing the normalization of relations with Israel and speculating on Palestinian rights. One such attempt was the agreements on economic aid and peace (Abraham Accords) signed by the Council of Jewish Leaders in Judaism with Israel on September 15, 2020. It is no secret that Israel and many autocrats find common ground. For Israel, it is preferable to maintain the status quo without democracy and to continue asserting that it is the only "democracy" in the Middle East. Arab autocrats, in turn, believe that cooperation with Israel guarantees the acceptance of their brutal regimes by the USA.

While Egypt was not at the forefront of these plans, Saudi Arabia and the UAE were key sponsors of the current military leaders in Egypt. The Egyptian government has not rejected these future plans for Palestine—without considering the rights of Palestinians to self-determination or any form of liberation. In this context, it is not an exaggeration to suggest that Egypt is a verbal ally of the Palestinians but a practical ally of Israel.

Since October 7, officials in Egypt have had to deal with conflicting pressures.

From constant public anger and economic decline at home to a strong alliance with Israel and the influence of reactionary regimes in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. On October 10, 2023, in one of his first statements about the war, Egypt's military dictator Abdel Fattah al-Sisi expressed his concerns about the escalation of the conflict and called for the protection of civilians on both sides. From October 15 onwards, after the escalation of the war, when it became clear that the Israeli response was extremely disproportionate and amounted to collective punishment, al-Sisi's government began to emphasize this line: Israel's attacks exceed the "right to self-defense." Egypt rejected Israeli proposals for the mass transfer of Palestinians from Gaza to the Sinai Peninsula. Egyptian leaders also declined to play a role in ensuring Gaza's security after the war. However, it was South Africa, not Egypt or any other Arab country, that brought Israel before the International Court of Justice for genocide in The Hague after several months of indiscriminate killings of civilians in Gaza.

Moreover, according to some reports, Egypt even warned Israel about the attacks on October 7, which Israeli representatives deny. A third reference point is needed here for context. In 1979, Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty that ultimately returned the Sinai Peninsula, adjacent to the Gaza Strip, under Egyptian control. In connection with this treaty, a 100-meter-wide strip of land known as the Philadelphi Route was established as a security zone between Gaza and Egypt. According to the peace agreement, only people, not goods, can pass through the Egyptian border crossing.

The second point is that the current leadership of Egypt emerged as a result of a military coup in July 2013. El-Sisi, the leader of the coup, has been the president of Egypt since 2014 and was recently elected for a third term, which will begin in April. Since coming to power, El-Sisi has built his legitimacy as a strongman of security, whose role is to save Egypt from the chaos and instability of the Arab Spring. El-Sisi's regime has proven to be a counter-revolutionary force of superior quality. Internally, a significant goal of his rule has been to punish opponents through proxy and straightforward opposition.

Under el-Sisi, Egypt's external debt has risen to $164.7 billion. Due to the current war, Egypt's problems have been exacerbated by the enormous external debt and an economy on the brink of collapse. It is not hard to imagine that el-Sisi might accept a proposal for the mass relocation of Palestinians to Sinai if Egypt's debt were to be forgiven, which has reportedly been considered.

In the regional context, Saudi Arabia and the UAE to some extent sponsor the el-Sisi regime. As a former head of military intelligence in Egypt, el-Sisi was a close collaborator with Israel on intelligence matters, including its campaigns against insurgents in the Sinai Peninsula. However, as several human rights organizations emphasize, the dictator has used the fight against terrorism to persecute his opponents and silence any discussions about the decline of human rights in Egypt.

Let us remind you that former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was previously a reliable mediator between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as among Palestinian factions. However, el-Sisi has become known primarily as a security figure, and Egypt has lost its leading role as a trusted mediator, which has been taken over by Qatar and other Arab countries.

Of course, Egypt did the right thing by refusing the mass transfer of Palestinians to Sinai. But none of these refusals would have happened without public pressure. Despite unprecedented repression in Egypt, Egyptian journalists organized protests within their union. Since March 8, Egyptian women have taken to the streets for the first time in many years to express their solidarity with Palestinian women. Most of the aid sent to Gaza from Egypt is collected and carried out by Egyptian civil society, not the government. Reports also indicate that one of the men in el-Sisi's regime in Egypt, a local businessman from Sinai named Ibrahim al-Arjani, who built his business relying on pro-government military forces to fight Islamists in Sinai, profited from Palestinians coming to Egypt through Rafah. When Mada Masr, one of the few independent news outlets in Egypt, reported on al-Arjani's horrific actions in Sinai and Rafah, the Egyptian government accused its editor of spreading false information and running an unlicensed website, instead of addressing the reports.

I want to clarify that when I use the word "betrayal" in relation to the Palestinians, I am referring to the Egyptian regime, not the people, many of whom are trying to resist repression and protest in solidarity with the Palestinians. Many Egyptians, Palestinians, and observers look at the Egyptian government with great disappointment. They view el-Sisi's regime not only as a failed democracy and development in Egypt but also as a regime that revolves around the orbit of reactionary Arab regimes, the USA, and Israel.

Please take into account that Egypt can and should offer Palestinians more than just empty rhetoric. Egypt needs to shift its position from rhetorical solidarity and ongoing complicity to a proactive stance in defense of Palestinian rights. In the short term, Egypt can do much more than just ask Israel to allow aid through Rafah. Egypt should set up field hospitals at the borders, organize urgent medical assistance to Egyptian hospitals, and arrange international delegations for solidarity and aid in Rafah. Egypt should fully exercise its sovereignty over the Rafah crossing.

It is unclear whether Israel will comply with the ceasefire resolution. In any case, genocide continues through expulsion and starvation in the form of a humanitarian and health crisis due to a lack of sanitation and infrastructure amid the ongoing war. Currently, Israel's plans after the war include direct military control over the sector with the help of close Arab allies, especially the UAE, along with some caricatures of Palestinian colleagues. Israel wants to dictate the future of Gaza. For example, one of the possible security plans for Gaza's future proposed by Israel and the UAE also includes the Palestinian Mohammed Dahlan - a former national security advisor and leader of the Fatah party, who is also an advisor on the liberalization of the UAE government. Dahlan is also one of Israel's closest associates. Another plan involves reconstruction in Gaza after the war. Some unconfirmed reports suggest that Israeli construction companies may be planning to build beach resorts in Gaza after the war. Regardless of this information, it is clear that Israel prioritizes security over reconstruction. And when it comes to reconstruction, Israel prefers that this task be carried out by its close Arab allies.

Of course, neither Israeli genocidal criminals nor Arab autocrats should decide the future of Palestinians in Gaza and Palestine as a whole, excluding the Palestinians themselves. If Egypt cannot be a true supporter of the liberation and self-determination of Palestine, it should not join the horrific plans of Israel, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia. Certainly, no viable peace or end to the conflict can be based on the exclusion of Palestinians and their right to a dignified life and self-determination. Let us strive for a free Palestine - not one where starving Palestinians resort to eating grass, but a future full of prosperity and freedom.