Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Photo: World Economic Forum via Wikimedia Commons.
Egypt and a group of moderate Arab states are putting significant pressure on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to resume peace negotiations with Israel as part of a wider plan to form a regional coalition against Iranian imperialism, Hebrew-language website nrg reported on Tuesday.
According to the report, the decision to pressure Abbas is motivated by two factors: Iran's growing presence on the ground in Arab countries, especially Syria; and the rise in Islamist terrorism, exemplified by the Nov. 24 attack on the al-Rawda mosque in the Sinai Peninsula that killed 305 Egyptians.
A great deal of the pressure comes from Egypt, said the source, especially since the Sinai attack. Egypt suspects some of the terrorists involved in the massacre escaped to Gaza through tunnels run by Hamas.
As a result, Egypt sees the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the lack of progress in the ongoing Hamas-Fatah reconciliation talks as a major cause of terrorism in Sinai, as well as a source of Iranian influence in the region.
"Hamas and Palestinian factions collaborate with Iran and Hezbollah, and Hamas also collaborates with ISIS in the Sinai and sells it weapons used against Egyptians," said the source.