Abdullah

Suadi Arabian King Abdullah supports the Egyptian peace talks and urged both sides to come to the table to stop the fighting. Meanwhile, reports the Arab News, cemeteries in Gaza are increasingly over-filling with nowhere to bury the newly dead.

A US ship carrying ammunitions from a Greek port to a US warehouse in Israel was canceled after Athens objected to the arrangement, in place before the war in Gaza, says the Pentagon.

Peace Talks

The Khaleej Times reports on the ongoing Egyptian cease fire talks, saying that while Egypt is eager to end the fighting and Israel has shown interest in signing the current plan, Hamas leadership from Damascus and Gaza are having a tough time coming together and signing the agreement.  

The Cairo talks involve five Hamas delegates, three from Damascus and two from Gaza.  

Meanwhile, Qatar has requested an emergency Arab League summit to find a solution to the conflict, to which no Arab countries have as of yet signed on to.  Some are afraid that the meeting will prove ineffective, making Arab states look helpless, while others can't get passed certain divisions in the Arab world, a Reuters report makes clear.  

Egypt and Saudi Arabia are opposed to Hamas militants, while Syria and Qatar are sympathetic to them.  Egypt sees Qatar's announcement as a means of embarrassing or undermining talks in Cairo.

Protesters in Syria, Yemen and Iran have excoriated Egypt's refusal to open their border crossings with Gaza to allow civilians to flee the war torn area.  Egypt won't do it without support from the PA government in the West Bank.  

Egyptian Influence

An editorial in the Egyptian online weekly Al Ahram questions whether Egypt, so pivotal a player in Middle East negotiations, is up to the diplomatic challenges their now facing.  With hawkish elements in the U.S. and Israeli administrations and the growing influence of Iran thwarting attempts at peace throughout the past year, they question Egypt's role in the region.

Is this an 'Iranian era' of strength building?  And is Egypt less relevent?  The article ends in the negative.  "The answer is a definite no.  When all is said and done, Egypt is still a crucial player in the Arab world," they conclude.