Yesterday, Monday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi announced that he had found a "common understanding" with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, a dispute between Addis Ababa and both Cairo and Khartoum.
This came in a televised statement by Sisi, carried by the presidential page on "Facebook", on the sidelines of his first meeting with Bennett, in the northeastern city of Sharm el-Sheikh, as part of the first visit by an Israeli head of government in 10 years.
Al-Sisi added that he spoke with Bennett with "courageous frankness" and that there is more talk for the sake of the two countries and the region, and added that he discussed with him the "issue of the Ethiopian dam," adding, "I found a common understanding."
And he added, "I told him we are trying to address the dam crisis within a framework of negotiation and dialogue, to reach an agreement on the important issue for us," which the Egyptian president considers (a matter of life or death).
Al-Sisi also said that the meeting dealt with the situation in the Gaza Strip and the importance of maintaining peace and the ceasefire, and the importance of achieving stability, economic support, and improving the conditions of citizens in the West Bank and Gaza.
Renaissance Dam in front of Gaza
Bennett described his first meeting with Sisi as "very important and very good," and then returned to Israel. Before boarding the plane back, he added, "We laid the foundations for a deep connection to move forward."
For its part, the Israeli "Kan" channel reported that Sisi called on Bennett to help solve the Renaissance Dam crisis, as part of a "deal" to bring calm in Gaza, and Sisi's statements did not include such a proposal.
For his part, Roi Sharon, a military analyst for the channel, said that Israel does not want to side with Egypt or Ethiopia, but it can communicate with the administration of US President Joe Biden in this regard, or help, for example, with desalination facilities to solve the growing water problem in Egypt.
He added that he saw "if Israel gives Sisi what he wants, he will have a greater incentive to put pressure and use all possible tools on the head of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar" to implement the prisoner deal, and then rebuild Gaza and restore calm to the Strip.
Cairo and Khartoum exchange accusations with Addis Ababa of being responsible for the failure of negotiations on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, sponsored by the African Union for months, as part of a negotiating process that began about 10 years ago.
Addis Ababa says that it does not aim to harm the interests of the downstream countries of the Nile River (Egypt and Sudan), and that it aims to generate electricity from the dam for development purposes.
While Egypt and Sudan are calling for the conclusion of a legally binding tripartite agreement, to preserve their water facilities, and the continuation of the flow of their annual share of the Nile waters.