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Egypt to Press Hamas on Reconciliation with Abbas
(Al-Monitor) Shlomi Eldar - The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt has been open for almost two months now and the Hamas leadership has clearly felt the difference. Israel's closure of the Kerem Shalom crossing was greeted with indifference because Gaza now has a supply alternative, albeit a conditional one. Egypt uses the border crossing as a pressure point on Hamas, just as Israel does with its border crossing. Egypt can open its border for the supply of goods and raw materials that Israel consistently bans, and close it if Hamas does not behave as Egypt expects. Egypt has pledged a series of measures beneficial to Gaza if Hamas displays flexibility and reaches understandings with Abbas about resolving the intra-Palestinian conflict. These include establishing an industrial zone in northern Sinai that would provide jobs for Gazans, increasing power supplies to Gaza, and building a fuel pipeline for regular supply.