(CNN) -- President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt is on a mission -- to return his country to its rightful place as the "indispensable" Arab state after what he saw as the dangerous chaos of Muslim Brotherhood rule under his predecessor, Mohamed Morsy. He also is determined to resist the spread of Islamist militancy, now entrenched in Sinai and spilling into Egypt from Libya. Since leading the ouster of Morsy a year ago, el-Sisi has hounded the Muslim Brotherhood underground; hundreds of its members have been arrested and many sentenced to death. Morsy himself languishes in jail and is on trial for inciting murder and other offenses.
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Egypt takes a central role in the cease-fire talks to end the latest Gaza conflict
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Egypt's President is determined to resist the spread of Islamist militancy
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Egyptian mediation is not without risks
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Egyptian diplomacy will be tested reconciling Israel's and the Palestinians' demands
Perhaps that is why the first @placeholder cease-fire proposal was so readily accepted by Israel.