Hamas officials this week accused Egypt of trying to reassert its control over the Gaza Strip after Cairo presented a proposal to insert an Egyptian-led Arab peacekeeping force into the troubled coastal territory.
The proposal was drawn up by Egypt and Jordan, and has won the backing of Hamas’ rivals in the Palestinian Authority government of Mahmoud Abbas, according to Arab media.
According to the terms of the proposal, a large Arab peacekeeping force would establish itself in Gaza to restore order and help a unified Palestinian government to reconstruct its own police force. After the situation was deemed stable, the Egyptian-led force would leave.
Egypt illegally annexed the Gaza Strip in 1948 and controlled the territory until Israel liberated it in the 1967 Six Day War.