Israel Matzav

Israel's war of words with Egypt

First, there was the proposal in the US Congress to withhold $200 million from Egypt's $1.3 billion in foreign aid unless Secretary of State Rice certified to Congress that Egypt is addressing arms smuggling into Gaza, as well as some human rights abuses.

Then, there was the IDF's attempt to get Congress not to weaken the provision (which was changed in a conference committee to $100 million and to give Rice the right to waive the withholding due to 'national security' considerations) by showing Congress videos of Egyptian troops helping Hamas terrorists to smuggle arms into Gaza.

Third, there was someone at the leftist foreign ministry who decided that Congress shouldn't see those videos.

Then Livni decided to criticize the Egyptians anyway for helping not doing enough to stop the arms smugglers, which resulted in a stinging rebuke being given to Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who was obligated to defend Livni as a 'positive personality' who 'wants peace.'

The Egyptians, however, were apparently not mollified by Barak, and their war of words with Livni has continued to escalate. Last night, anonymous 'Israeli officials' struck back and started to tell the truth about 'our friends the Egyptians.'

Egypt has worked to thwart Israel diplomatically in various international forums for years, so Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit's recent threat to turn up the diplomatic heat on Israel is nothing new, Israeli officials said Tuesday.

Egypt's foreign minister warned in a television interview earlier this week that Cairo would "retaliate" diplomatically against Israel if its complaints against Egyptian inaction on arms smuggling into Gaza hurt US-Egyptian ties.

...

For instance, one official said, Egypt originally led the bloc of countries at the UN General Assembly last month that tried to prevent Israel's resolution on the development and transfer of agricultural technologies - the first Israeli resolution ever adopted by the world body - from being accepted.

"At the end, the Egyptians had no choice but to abstain in the vote, when they saw that so many others supported it, but they tried to block it at first," the official said. The resolution passed by a vote of 118 in favor and 29 abstentions.

The official said Egypt's motive in trying to stymie that resolution had been "to show us who is boss," and to demonstrate that while Israel succeeded in getting certain things accomplished in the Security Council because of US support, "Egypt can beat us on other playing fields."

The official said that another example of Egyptian efforts to block Israeli interests was evident in the 2005 quadrennial Mediterranean Games, an Olympic-style sporting event that includes all the countries that border the Mediterranean Sea - except for Israel.

The official said that Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos had tried to get an invitation to those games held in Almeria, Spain, for both Israel and the Palestinian Authority, but that the Egyptians had effectively blocked the move.

"The Egyptians are interested in limiting us, not letting us feel that we are off the hook," the official said. "The Egyptians don't want us to feel that there is no longer pressure on us, so that we don't stop dealing with the Palestinians."

The article goes on to say that tensions between Israel and Egypt are being exacerbated by the 'Palestinian pilgrims' who are 'stranded' in El Arish while trying to smuggle $150 million into the Gaza Strip and who are currently on a hunger strike. But that's not the real reason why this is happening.

The real reason that there is 'tension' between Israel and Egypt is that there has always been a problem with the 'peace treaty' with Egypt and it's one that the Egyptian government can choose (and has chosen) to exploit at any time. Most Egyptians still regard Israel as the enemy.

Two days ago, I linked to a post by an Egyptian blogger called Sand Monkey. Here's what he has to say about the average Egyptian's desire for peace:

But then I rememebrd that we- the majority of us anyway- don't want peace with Israel, and are not interested in any real dialogue with them. We weren't then and we are not now. The Entire peace process has always been about getting the land back, not establishing better relations. Even when we do get the land back, it's not enough. People in Egypt lament daily the Camp David treaty that prevents us from fighting. In Gaza they never stopped trying to attack Israel. In Lebanon Hezbollah continued attacking even after the Israeli withdrawel. And the people- the majority of the arab population- support it. Very few of us are really interested in having any lasting Peace or co-existance. I mean, if our left is asking for war, what do you think the rest of the population is thinking?

I think that the Israeli want peace with us because they don't want their lives disrupted. They don't want to have the IDF soldiers fighting in Gaza, rockets coming into their towns from Hamas or having to go to wars against Hezbollah to get their soldiers back. I think they want peace because they want their peace of mind. They view us as if we were a headache. We view them as if they are a cancer.

Just three weeks ago, Egypt warned that Israel should not take the Camp David Treaty for granted. The Egyptians may have been complicit in Gilad Shalit's kidnapping. Egypt branded a Ghanian soccer player who pulled out an Israeli flag at the World Cup a 'Mossad agent.' Egypt has never pushed Hamas to recognize Israel. Egypt puts anti-Israel and anti-American programming on its government television. And by the way, most Egyptians and Jordanians don't believe that Arabs carried out the 9/11 terror attacks. And those are just some of the most recent events.

'Tension' between Israel and Egypt is always there just beneath the surface, mostly beneath the Egyptian surface. For its own internal reasons, the Egyptian government has chosen now as a time to exploit it. Israel should not be falling all over itself to make the Egyptians 'feel better.'

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:55 PM