Israel Matzav

Egyptians see Israel, US as enemies

It's been 27 years since Egypt and Israel signed the Camp David accords. Israel gave every grain of sand in the Sinai to the Egyptians, and we've nominally been at 'peace' ever since.

The US began to give foreign aid to Egypt on a massive scale shortly after Camp David was signed. Until recently, Egypt was the second largest recipient of US foreign aid, slipping to third behind Iraq after Saddam Hussein was overthrown.

So why am I not surprised that Agence France Press is reporting today on a poll that says that 92% of Egyptians regard Israel as an enemy, and over 50% feel the same about the US? The report I linked above says that the US came in third after Israel and Denmark (it's the cartoons again), but the Sandmonkey says that the poll was taken by the Egyptian government and that the US only came in fourth - after Great Britain too.

And whom do Egyptians regard as their 'friends'? Saudi Arabia, Libya, the Palestinian Authority, Sudan and Syria. Only 2% call Israel a friend.

And you wonder why I believe that signing treaties with an Arab country is ultimately useless?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:34 PM