opposition and both of those would have to resist the temptation to try to exclude the former hosni mubarek regime because excluding would create a new class of spoilers who would try to tear down the entire egyptian democratic edifice. if everyone does all of these things -- and this is egypt, they can do it. it is -- they surprised us before. they can make it to democracy. of course, as we know, none of that came to pass. more than that, it seems quaint that anyone could have believed that it would. so i kind of like to beat myself up. i am a neurotic person. a sometimes crack that peace open to remind myself of my naivety. i have to admit, i come away from it pleasantly surprised i did note at the end of that article that egypt was an extremely poor country and that poor countries, even if they manage somehow to make it to democracy usually fail to keep it. getting democracy is hard. keeping democracy is actually harder. and i further noted that if egypt detoured into islamist dominion or economic crisis or chaos people in that country would begin to yearn for the lugubrious stability pr

president hosni mubarek served as a bridge between palestinians and israelis. he brokered the deal that released israeli soldier gilad shalit. hamas had a friend in former president mohammed morsi who opened the border with gaza and with secretary of stays hillary clinton brokered a peace between hamas and israel in 2012. things have changed since then. like israel, egypt's current president views hamas as a regional group and threat. isolating them politically, sealing off across gaza and destroying tunnels between the borders to stop hamas from smuggling weapons. >> the reason both egypt and israel have put restrictions on the border is because we don't want hamas to do that. as long as hamas doesn't want to invest in the people of gaza but wants to invest in its terrorist war machine, of course those restrictions have to stay in place. >> reporter: with monday's cease-fire, egypt once again assumed its role at mid east power broker. when talks resume in cairo on a long-term truce, egypt holds the key to helping ease the blockade of gaza while helping to deny

opposition and both of those would have to resist the temptation to try to exclude the former hosni mubarek regime because excluding would create a new class of spoilers who would try to tear down the entire egyptian democratic edifice. if everyone does all of these things -- and this is egypt, they can do it. it is -- they surprised us before. they can make it to democracy. of course, as we know, none of that came to pass. more than that, it seems quaint that anyone could have believed that it would. so i kind of like to beat myself up. i am a neurotic person. a sometimes crack that peace open to remind myself of my naivety. i have to admit, i come away from it pleasantly surprised i did note at the end of that article that egypt was an extremely poor country and that poor countries, even if they manage somehow to make it to democracy usually fail to keep it. getting democracy is hard. keeping democracy is actually harder. and i further noted that if egypt detoured into islamist dominion or economic crisis or chaos people in that country would begin to yearn for the lugubrious stability pr