It was massively unreported in 2014 when Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi took control of the Gaza Sinai border and began removing the Hamas Terror tunnels. As we watched the local media reporting, it was almost unbelievable how western media were ignoring the events. (example)

A full one-third of all homes on the Gaza border with Egypt contained Hamas tunnels used to smuggle weapons. One of the discovered tunnels was 1.5 miles long (link). In order to deal with the scale of the issue, al-Sisi ordered the removal of houses to facilitate an almost mile-wide buffer zone. During the effort massive tunnels were discovered that the terrorist network Hamas was using to smuggle weapons.

It was al-Sisi’s efforts on that border that eventually forced the terms of a 2014 ceasefire between Hamas/Palestinian Authority and Israel. By forcing Hamas and the Palestinian Authority to speak with one voice President al-Sisi changed the paradigm of willful blindness supporting terrorism.

Since 2014/2015 the border area has been secured by Egypt and no weapons have been able to flow into Gaza. The inability of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas to fuel further terror created the space for the Palestinian Authority to extend it’s influence.

Eventually, absent their ability to fuel terrorist activity, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood diminished in influence; later granting the PA with unified governing authority. The “big squeeze” paid off.

Almost three years later, the efforts of President Sisi to raise moderate voices to the top of the political dynamic, are yielding positive results:

Egypt opened its largely sealed border with Gaza on Saturday for the first time since a reconciliation agreement saw the Palestinian Authority take control of the crossing from Hamas. A Palestinian official at the Rafah crossing said it had opened at 0700 GMT and was expected to stay open for three days. “Egypt will open the crossing for humanitarian cases registered with the interior ministry,” the official said, adding that civilian and security personnel on the Palestinian side were all employees of the reconciliation government headed by Rami Hamdallah. Up to 20,000 people from Gaza have applied to enter Egypt. during the brief reopening. Egypt’s border with the Gaza Strip had been totally sealed since August, and was largely closed for years before that. Under the terms of a Palestinian reconciliation agreement reached last month, Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas are supposed to cede civil power to the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority by December 1. As a first step, they handed over control of its border crossings on November 1. The Egypt-brokered deal is expected to lead to more regular opening of the Rafah crossing. (read more)

This is another significant step toward a possible Arab/Israel peace deal.

“The impossible is just where we begin”.. ~President Donald J Trump