Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi hailed after brokering Gaza ceasefire
Gaza ceasefire defines the nation's leadership role in the region as President Mursi wins the trust of both Israel and the United States
The Gaza ceasefire deal reached on Wednesday marks a startling trajectory for Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi: an Islamist leader who refuses to talk to Israelis, or even say the country's name, mediated for it and finally turned himself into Israel's de facto protector.
The accord inserts Egypt to an unprecedented degree into the conflict between Israel and Hamas, establishing it as the arbiter ensuring that militant rocket fire into Israel stops and that Israel allows the opening of the long-blockaded Gaza Strip and stops its own attacks against Hamas.
In return, Mursi emerged as a major regional player. He won the trust of the United States and Israel, which once worried over the rise of an Islamist leader in Egypt but throughout the week-long Gaza crisis saw him as the figure most able to deliver a deal with Gaza's Hamas rulers.
"I want to thank President Mursi for his personal leadership to de-escalate the situation in Gaza and end the violence," US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who met Mursi yesterday, said at a Cairo press conference with Egypt's foreign minister announcing the accord.
"This is a critical moment for the region. Egypt's new government is assuming the responsibility and leadership that has long made this country a cornerstone of regional stability and peace," she said.
After Israel launched its assault on Gaza a week ago, aimed at stopping militant rocket fire, Mursi's palace in a Cairo suburb became the Middle East's diplomacy central.
He held talks with Turkey's prime minister and the emir of Qatar, Germany's foreign minister and a host of top Arab officials to get them behind his mediation. An Israeli envoy flew secretly into Cairo for talks with Egyptian security officials, though Mursi did not meet or speak directly with any Israelis.