Egypt Steps up Role in Gaza as Mideast Peacemaker

Palestinians walk past Egyptian flags on the side of a street in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, Jan. 25, 2022. (AP)
Palestinians walk past Egyptian flags on the side of a street in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, Jan. 25, 2022. (AP)
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Egypt Steps up Role in Gaza as Mideast Peacemaker

Palestinians walk past Egyptian flags on the side of a street in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, Jan. 25, 2022. (AP)
Palestinians walk past Egyptian flags on the side of a street in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, Jan. 25, 2022. (AP)

After years of working behind the scenes as a mediator, Egypt is taking on a much larger and more public role in Gaza, said an AP report on Monday.

It said in the months since it brokered a Gaza ceasefire last May, Egypt has sent crews to clear rubble and promised to build vast new apartment complexes, and billboards of its president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, are a common sight.

It is a new look for the Egyptians, who have spent years working quietly to encourage Israel-Hamas truce talks and reconciliation between rival Palestinian factions, the report said, adding that this shift could help prevent — or at least delay — another round of violence.

“The 11-day Gaza war last May allowed Egypt to once again market itself as an indispensable security partner for Israel in the region, and also makes it an indispensable security partner for the US,” said Hafsa Halawa, an expert on Egypt at the Middle East Institute, a Washington think tank.

According to the AP, the expanded aid, along with its control over Rafah — the only Gaza border crossing that bypasses Israel — gives Egypt leverage over Hamas.

After negotiating the informal cease-fire that ended the Gaza war, Egypt pledged $500 million to rebuild the territory and sent work crews to remove rubble.

Naji Sarhan, the deputy director of the Hamas-run Housing Ministry, said that while it remains unclear how much of that money has been delivered, Egypt is now subsidizing the construction of three towns that are to house some 300,000 residents.

He said work is also under way to upgrade Gaza’s main coastal road, adding that the projects will take a year and a half to complete.

Alaa al-Arraj, of the Palestinian contractors’ union, said nine Palestinian companies will take part in the Egyptian projects, which would generate some 16,000 much-needed jobs in the impoverished territory.

The Egyptian presence is palpable.

Nearly every week, Egyptian delegations visit Gaza to inspect the work and they also opened an office at a Gaza City hotel for permanent technical representatives.

Egyptian flags and banners of Egyptian companies flutter atop bulldozers, trucks and utility poles. Dozens of Egyptian workers have arrived, sleeping at a makeshift hostel in a Gaza City school, the report added.

Suhail Saqqa, a Gaza contractor involved in the reconstruction, said the steady flow of Egyptian materials is critical.

“The goods are not restricted by Israeli crossings, and this makes them momentous,” he said.

The growing Egyptian role gives Cairo a powerful tool to enforce Hamas’ compliance with the truce.

It can close Rafah whenever it wants, making it nearly impossible for anyone to travel into or out of Gaza, which is home to more than 2 million Palestinians.

That might be enough to prevent another outbreak of hostilities in the near term. But it doesn’t address the underlying conflict that has fueled four wars between Israel and Hamas and countless skirmishes over the last 15 years.



Ukraine's Earth Riches Are Rare and Difficult to Reach

 Ukraine has huge mineral resources and some coal mines are still operating despite Russia's invasion but huge investment will be needed to reach its rare earths. (AFP)
Ukraine has huge mineral resources and some coal mines are still operating despite Russia's invasion but huge investment will be needed to reach its rare earths. (AFP)
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Ukraine's Earth Riches Are Rare and Difficult to Reach

 Ukraine has huge mineral resources and some coal mines are still operating despite Russia's invasion but huge investment will be needed to reach its rare earths. (AFP)
Ukraine has huge mineral resources and some coal mines are still operating despite Russia's invasion but huge investment will be needed to reach its rare earths. (AFP)

Ukraine's soils hold some five percent of the world's mineral resources, which is what US President Donald Trump is anxious to secure, but not all of them are yet exploited -- or maybe even exploitable, according to experts.

Ukraine ranks 40th among mineral-producing countries, all categories combined (including coal), according to the 2024 edition of World Mining Data. It was the world's 10th largest producer of iron in 2022.

Geologists, including at France's Bureau of Geological and Mining Research (BRGM), found more than 100 resources, including iron, manganese and uranium, in a study of Ukraine published in 2023.

Minerals can be described as critical or strategic by countries for their economy or their energy production. The United States designates about 50 and the European Union more than 30.

The European Commission said: "Ukraine is a significant global supplier of titanium and is a potential source of over 20 critical raw materials."

It is a notable producer of manganese (the world's eighth largest producer, according to World Mining Data), titanium (11th) and graphite (14th), which is essential for electric batteries.

Ukraine has also said it "possesses one of the largest lithium deposits in Europe". However, the government added that the soft metal it is not yet extracted.

Rare earth elements (REE) are a very specific classification of 17 metals within the much wider category of critical minerals.

Ukraine is not known for its reserves of rare earths, which are essential for screens, drones, wind turbines, and electric motors. Trump has particularly declared he wants rare earths and demanded an accord on getting minerals in return for US aid for Ukraine to fight its war with Russia.

"Ukraine has several deposits containing rare earth elements" but none of these deposits have been mined, said Elena Safirova, a Ukraine specialist at the US Geological Survey.

In 2023, the BRGM said Ukraine has "significant REE resources" but that further exploration and development would require heavy investment.

The Ukrainian government said "rare earth metals are known to exist in six deposits". It said investment of $300 million would be needed to develop the Novopoltavske deposit, "which is one of the largest in the world".

Technically, some of the elements cited by the Ukrainian government (tantalum, niobium, beryllium, strontium, magnetite) are not on the list of 17 rare earths.

And some of the Ukrainian government projections are based on "a Soviet-era assessment of difficult-to-access rare earths deposits," rating agency S&P said in February.

Because the country's rare earths may be too low in concentration or too difficult to access, "Ukraine's deposits of rare earth elements might not be profitable to extract", S&P said.