The Egyptian-Israeli Peace Accord, Expectations and the Plight of Egyptians Living in Israel - by Dr. Edy Cohen

Decades after the achievement of a peace agreement between Egypt and Israel, the peace remains cold. Egypt continues to be institutionally hostile to Israel. Egyptian citizens who reside in Israel, be they students or small business owners or simply spouses of Israeli Arabs, face discrimination and suspicion at home.

Dr. Edy Cohen..
BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 1,731..
06 September '20..
Link: https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/egyptians-living-in-israel/

Israelis often say, “There is peace between the governments of Egypt and Israel, but not between the peoples.” I beg to differ. Many Egyptians have no problem with Israel, and a few thousands of them even live in Israel, peacefully. Egyptian citizens are deterred from visiting Israel and establishing any kind of warm relationship with it for fear of the wrath of the government, which views any such attempts as potentially traitorous.

Forty-one years have passed since the signing of the Egyptian-Israeli peace accord between Israeli PM Menachem Begin and Egyptian president Anwar Sadat. The agreement established certain guidelines, including mutual non-aggression in the media and reciprocal visits by tourists.

Article 3 of the peace treaty says:

The Parties agree that the normal relationship established between them will include full recognition, diplomatic, economic and cultural relations, termination of economic boycotts and discriminatory barriers to the free movement of people and goods, and will guarantee the mutual enjoyment by citizens of the due process of law.

Article 3 encourages normalization of relationships between the two nations:

The Parties agree to establish normal cultural relations following completion of the interim withdrawal.

They agree on the desirability of cultural exchanges in all fields, and shall, as soon as possible and not later than six months after completion of the interim withdrawal, enter into negotiations with a view to concluding a cultural agreement for this purpose.

Unfortunately, none of that happened. In the 41 years since the agreement was signed, not a day has gone by in which Israel or Jews in general have not been attacked in the Egyptian media. For many deeply rooted reasons, Egypt has the most antisemitic media of any Arab country. No matter what the peace treaty says, the Egyptian leadership did not and still does not want to normalize relations with Israel, and it punishes anyone who tries to do so.

Thankfully, there is no open military hostility between Egypt and Israel these days, and there are some economic and diplomatic relations. Egypt also helps mediate between Israel and Hamas. According to several media sources, Israel is helping Egypt to eliminate ISIS in Sinai. That would testify to political security coordination existing between the two countries.

However, there is still no cultural relationship between the two countries, nor freedom of movement. On the contrary: there is discrimination and punishment for anyone who tries to normalize relations, and it does not come from the Israeli side.

Netanyahu, Sisi, Obama and the UN Resolution on Israeli Settlements - by Elliott Abrams

...I had actually thought Mr. Obama would veto, because a refusal to do so would certainly do damage to his party–a party that has suffered electoral defeats at the congressional and state level throughout his presidency. But if the information I received was right, he was more interested in departing with another smack at Israel.

Elliott Abrams..
Pressure Points..
22 December '16..
Link: http://blogs.cfr.org/abrams/2016/12/22/netanyahu-sisi-obama-and-the-united-nations-resolution-on-israeli-settlements/

The United Nations Security Council was scheduled to vote today (Thursday, December 22) on an Egyptian-sponsored resolution on Israeli settlement activity.

Egypt, the Arab representative on the Security Council right now, pulled the resolution this morning, so there will be no vote. There are several mysteries here, including why Egypt did that, and how President Obama planned to vote: yes, abstain, or veto.

First, it’s important to realize just how bad the resolution was. Here’s part: The Security Council–

Israel’s Phantom Isolation - by Jonathan Tobin

...The hijinks at UNESCO are evidence of the impact of the anti-Semitism that is sweeping the globe. But the idea that Israel is isolated—promoted as much by leftist Jewish critics of Netanyahu as by the Palestinians—is clearly bunk. Many in the Arab world and elsewhere have grown tired of pushing for justice for a Palestinian cause that isn’t interested in making peace with the Jewish state at a time when the old war against Zionism is a distraction from more pressing threats. That spells failure for Abbas and a not insignificant victory for a Netanyahu government that has proven that it is not the disaster for Israel that its foes claim it to be.

Jonathan S. Tobin..
Commentary Magazine..
12 July '16..
Link: https://www.commentarymagazine.com/foreign-policy/middle-east/palestinians-more-isolated-than-israel-egypt/

In the next few days, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization will vote on a resolution that will follow up on their past efforts to erase Jewish history in Jerusalem. The UNESCO statement, which will likely be approved by their World Heritage Committee as easily as it passed its Executive Board in April will treat the Temple Mount and even the Western Wall as exclusively Muslim sites and deny both Jewish and Christian ties to the holy places. This is considered a great triumph for Palestinian diplomacy that aims, above all, to not merely deny any connection between the Jewish people and their ancient homeland but to isolate the state of Israel in every possible forum.

As much as those efforts have continued to succeed, the reality of the new Middle East that has emerged as a result of the rise of ISIS and the Obama administration’s appeasement of Iran has worked to undermine their goal. As this week’s visit to Israel by the foreign minister of Egypt as well as the success of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s tour of Africa revealed, the Jewish state has more friends than its enemies think. More than that, the desire of the Egyptians to facilitate Netanyahu’s goal of direct negotiations with the Palestinian Authority illustrates that it is Abbas and his Hamas rivals who are truly isolated in ways that count more than their meaningless triumphs in Geneva.

The willingness of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s government to send Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry to Jerusalem makes plain Israel’s increasingly warm relations with Cairo. Sisi’s regime shares common enemies with the Israelis and the cooperation between the two nations against Hamas in Gaza and the radical terrorists operating in the Sinai is just one aspect of the change in climate. In the wake of the Iran nuclear deal, Arab governments have become open about their view of Israel as a valuable ally against Tehran as well as ISIS.

Nevertheless, Israel’s critics will point to Shoukry’s emphasis on reviving peace talks with the Palestinians as proof that Israel is still under pressure from neighboring countries to make concessions to the Palestinians. But while it’s true that Egypt, acting at the urging of the Saudis, would like to be able to produce something that would prove their good will toward the Palestinian people, Shoukry’s mission is anything but good news for PA leader Mahmoud Abbas, let alone Hamas.

The Peace Process that Actually Matters - by Evelyn Gordon

...Haick said he sees the course as a way of building bridges between Israel and the Arab world. And he’s right; this is an online version of the Haifa-Jordan trade route. Just as that route for the first time enables the broader regional economy to benefit from Israel, Haick’s course for the first time enables the broader region to benefit from Israel’s world-class universities and high-tech expertise. And the more Israel’s neighbors benefit from its existence, the greater their interest will be in reaching an accommodation with it rather than destroying it. All of the above may seem like baby steps. Yet the series of baby steps that have been taken over the last few years not only represents a major shift from the utter stagnation of previous decades, but is slowly adding up to significant progress, even if there’s still a long way left to go.

Evelyn Gordon..
Commentary Magazine..
29 February '16..

I just returned from a few weeks in America, where the only thing from Israel that makes the news is the ongoing Palestinian violence. So it was a pleasant surprise to come home and discover that the peace process is actually progressing quite nicely. I don’t, of course, mean the one the West is fixated on, the consistently fruitless and currently nonexistent “peace process” with the Palestinians. I mean the far more important process of creeping normalization with the rest of the Arab world, which will not only improve Israel’s long-term security, but is probably essential for any progress on the Palestinian track.

As the Jerusalem Post reported last week, Israel is becoming an increasingly important player in the Arab world’s trade with Europe. Until a few years ago, the main overland route for this trade was through Syria. But with the Syrian civil war having made that impossible, a growing proportion now comes by ferry from Turkey to Haifa, then trucks across Israel to Jordan. This route is cheaper than the other main alternative, which involves shipping from Europe to Egypt.

Last year, some 13,000 trucks used the Israel route, up more than 25 percent from the previous year. And next month, a new shipping line between Turkey and Israel is slated to be inaugurated, enabling another 150 trucks per month. Israel’s Sheikh Hussein border crossing with Jordan is being expanded to handle the increase.

All this obviously benefits Israel’s economy, since Israel collects duties on every truckload. More importantly, however, it means that Israel – for virtually the first time since its establishment in 1948 – is playing a useful role in the broader regional economy rather than being largely isolated from it. And the more Israel’s Arab neighbors benefit from Israel’s stability, the more they will have an interest in trying to maintain that stability rather than disrupting it.

No less noteworthy was last week’s decision by an Egyptian parliamentarian and media personality to publicly challenge his country’s longstanding opposition to “normalization” with Israel. Though the two countries signed a peace treaty in 1979, Egyptian politicians, journalists, cultural figures and other elites have long opposed turning the cold peace into a “normal” relationship. Hence despite the exchange of ambassadors, bilateral relations have long been limited and kept largely under the radar, even as security cooperation has grown increasingly close over the last few years.

Surprise? Egyptians Hoping Israel Will Destroy Hamas

..."Thank you Netanyahu and may God give us more [people] like you to destroy Hamas!" — Azza Sami of the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram....Hamas is paying a heavy price for meddling in the internal affairs of Egypt and some other Arab countries. But the Palestinians living under Hamas in the Gaza Strip are paying a heavier price, largely due to their failure to rise up against the Islamist movement and demand the right to live better lives.

Khaled Abu Toameh..
Gatestone Institute..
13 July '14..

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi has thus far turned down appeals from Palestinians and other Arabs to work toward achieving a new ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Palestinian Authority [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas telephoned Sisi and urged him to intervene to achieve an "immediate ceasefire" between Israel and Hamas. Abbas later admitted that his appeal to Sisi and (other Arab leaders) had fallen on deaf ears.

Sisi's decision not to intervene in the current crisis did not come as a surprise. In fact, Sisi and many Egyptians seem to be delighted that Hamas is being badly hurt.

Some Egyptians are even openly expressing hope that Israel will completely destroy Hamas, which they regard as the "armed branch of the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist organization."

Sisi's Egypt has not forgiven Hamas for its alliance with Muslim Brotherhood and its involvement in terrorist attacks against Egyptian civilians and soldiers over the past year.

The Egyptians today understand that Hamas and other radical Islamist groups pose a serious threat to their national security. That is why the Egyptian authorities have, over the past year, been taking tough security measures not only against Hamas, but also the entire population of the Gaza Strip.

These measures include the destruction of dozens of smuggling tunnels along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt and the designation of Hamas as a terrorist organization.

True, there are still many Egyptians and Arabs who sympathize with Hamas, mainly because it is being targeted by Israel. But over the past week, there are also different voices coming out of Egypt and some other Arab countries -- voices that publicly support the Israeli military operation against the Islamist movement in the Gaza Strip.

This is perhaps because a growing number of Arabs and Muslims are fed up with the Islamist terrorists who are imposing a reign of terror and intimidation in the Arab world, particularly in Iraq and Syria. They see the atrocities and massacres committed by Islamists on a daily basis in Iraq and Syria and are beginning to ask themselves if these serve the interests of the Arabs and Muslims.

Sisi and other Arab leaders are now sitting on the fence and hoping that this time Israel will complete the job and get rid of Hamas once and for all. Palestinian Authority officials in Ramallah are certainly not going to shed a tear if Hamas is crushed and removed from power in the Gaza Strip.

From Israel - Those Tanks

Arlene Kushner..
22 August '12..





But before I speak about tanks, I want to share good news, as I had promised:

Many of you on this list have been following the situation of the nine-year old Noam Jay ben Inbar, who was found to have cancer growing in his heart and on his lung and was thought to be terminal. About two months ago, an MRI that was done showed that since the last scan there had been no further growth of the large mass, which had been aggressively enlarging. And so it was decided to start him on an experimental drug. I understand that the form of cancer this boy has is so rare that a case is seen perhaps once in 20 years.

I learned yesterday that Noam has been permitted to come home, with the understanding that regular checks will be necessary. His most recent MRI showed a modest decrease in the size of the tumor. He's got a very long way to go, but this is the first sign of a reversal of a condition that the doctors not so long ago had thought was hopeless.

And so, Baruch Hashem, may he continue to improve. And please, continue to pray for him.

As to those tanks: PM Netanyahu is walking a tightrope. And the situation here is as filled with complexities and nuances as anything I've written about in my last few posts.

The tanks are being brought into the Sinai by Egypt. It is not clear whether they are the first to be brought in, or, as one report indicated, they are heavier, US-made tanks that were not included in the recent understanding between Egypt and Israel.

~~~~~~~~~~

Credit: rfi

There seems a disagreement as to whether this deployment is a violation of the 1979 Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty. That tanks are forbidden in a demilitarized Sinai is clear. But Israel is granting permission for troops and equipment to be brought in beyond the limits of the treaty, and considers it acceptable under the circumstances.

What is significant for Israel is that the Egyptians ask, and that our government have a say in what is deployed. The Israeli government says there was no approval for these tanks.

The Egyptians are saying that this is in coordination with Israel, as approval was given, without a time limit, for equipment to be brought in to "purge the area of armed criminals," as one officer put it. The Egyptians are bristling at the notion that everything has to be cleared with Israel: permission was given to do the job and that should be enough.

For the Egyptians there are sensitive issues of national sovereignty -- they deeply resent not being permitted to do as they choose in the Sinai.

King Mursi the First, Egypt and The Peace Agreement With Israel

Dr. Mordechai Kedar..
Middle East and Terrorism..
17 August '12..




Translated from Hebrew by Sally Zahav..

Nine months ago, in November of 2011, the Muslim Brotherhood won almost half of the seats of the Egyptian "Peoples' Council", thus translating the long-standing support of the population into a political asset of undeniable strength. This success encouraged them to contend for the presidency as well, and in June their representative - Mohammad Mursi - won this exalted office. The Supreme Military Council, the military body that had been managing affairs in Egypt since Mubarak was sent packing in February 2011, ground its teeth with rage, and the head of the Council - Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi - who was suspected of intending to remain in control until the end of his days, announced again and again that he does not intend to turn into Mubarak number 2. Despite this, there was an open rivalry between the military and the Brotherhood: on one side is an unelected body, which is powerful, violent, hated, secular, self-interested, armed, hierarchical, obedient and disciplined; and on the other hand there was an elected body, supported by the public, not violent, religious, ideological, connected to the population and perceived as the embodiment of the dream of many years.

During the past months, especially since Mursi was elected in June, Egypt seemed like a rickety cart, pulled by two horses, but each in its own direction. Each horse tries to step on the other's hoofs, trying to negate the strength of the other, despite the fact that both of them know that they are destined to pull the cart together. The Supreme Constitutional Court dispersed the parliament, thus pulling an important rug out from under the feet of the Brotherhood. The Supreme Military Council issued an order to freeze the powers of the president, but then Mursi cut off the head of the military snake, Tantawi, Commander in chief Anan, Head of General Intelligence Muaffi, and a long line of officers, "tails" of the old regime, who had been appointed by Mubarak, with one decision that appeared as if it was exploiting the attack on the Kerem Shalom Crossing two weeks ago.

As of the writing of these lines, not a word of public outcry has been heard by all of the symbols of Mubarak's regime that Mursi sent packing, and the impression that is created is that they have accepted the decision and quietly left their offices . It could be that they indeed have accepted this "boot upwards": Some of them have joined the "presidential team" as very close advisers to Mursi so that he would be able to keep an eye on their doings, and some accepted high positions in public service.

But behind the scenes a difficult struggle was being played out: In the middle of last week, President Mursi held a discussion of the Council of National Defense in his office, which dealt with the implications of the terror attack at the Kerem Shalom Crossing and with the security situation in Sinai. Mursi, Tantawi, Anan and other senior officers were all participants in this discussion, during which,Tantawi claimed that Egyptian intelligence had information on the involvement of Palestinian elements in the attack, and that Israel had paid them. Therefore - in his view - Egypt must hermetically close the Rafah Crossing, because of the threat to Egyptian national security that it poses. Mursi became enraged and said: I do not believe that a Palestinian would do this, and if you had prior information about it why did you not act appropriately? I will not permit the closing of the crossing because I don't suspect that Hamas took part in the action." Tantawi rejected the words of the president and emphasized that the Supreme Military Council had decided to close the Rafah Passage completely, and perhaps it would be opened in the distant future. "We, the military people, are in charge of that." With these words, Mursi answered sharply: "I am the high commander of the Egyptian military." The meeting dispersed after deciding to deal with the centers of terrorism in Sinai with full determination and without any sensitivity, without the "Supreme Court" or the prying eyes of human rights organizations, as is commonly done in the Arab world. Last Saturday, the president met with Tantawi and Anan, and did not reveal to them that he was about to fire them within a few hours.

Ramadan as a month of triumph. But who is the triumphant one?

"Anyone who takes the deployment of Egyptian tanks and helicopters in Sinai too lightly, regarding it as merely necessary at this point in time, may soon get slapped in the face by reality. If you think that Egypt's deployment in Sinai is intended merely to take care of Israel's Sinai terror problem, you may have to think again."

Dr. Liad Porat..
Israel Hayom..
15 August '12..

Dr. Mohammed Badie, the supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, describes the month of Ramadan in his weekly missive as a month of triumph. This begs the question, however, of who is the triumphant one, and who is the defeated one, as of today?

During the Free Officer's Revolution in Egypt in July of 1952, talks were held between the officers' leadership and the Muslim Brotherhood. Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, then president of Egypt, dedicated days and hours to meetings with the heads of the Brotherhood in efforts to understand their true nature and intentions. Once he was convinced that their ideological direction was contrary to his world view and posed a threat to him, Nasser sought an opportunity to strike them down.

In October of 1954, he found a way. Nasser gave a speech in Alexandria before signing an agreement that saw the withdrawal of British Armed Forces from Egypt. The speech was broadcast over transistor radios to all of Egypt, and in the background, eight shots were heard. The shots all missed the charismatic president. He immediately regained his composure, realizing that he had found the opportunity he had been waiting for. The following day, the Brotherhood was accused of having tried to assassinate the head of state; droves of Brotherhood members were arrested and thrown in jail. Thus, in one fell swoop, Nasser's regime paralyzed the Muslim Brotherhood's active and organized resistance.

The Free Officer's movement, led by the confident Nasser, ruled in Egypt for many years. It was Nasser's successor, Anwar Sadat, who later opened the prison doors and let the Brotherhood resume public activity. Sadat held a meeting at the start of his term with the imprisoned leader of the Brotherhood, and got the impression that the movement could help him establish his legitimacy. What actually happened, however, was that the creature turned on its creator: the Brotherhood, which Sadat expected to support him and to help him combat the Left and the Nasser-ites, were the ones who ultimately stripped him of his legitimacy. They did so in such a way as to encourage Sadat's eventual assassins.

Accountability in Egypt: The Beginning?

Shoshana Bryen..
American Thinker..
09 August '12..




Here's an odd story:

On 2 August, the government of Israel publicly warned Israelis to leave the Sinai because it had information about potential terrorist activity. On the 4th, the U.S. government followed suit. On the evening of the 6th, the attack came - not against Israel at first, or against Americans, but against an Egyptian military outpost where soldiers were having their Iftar dinner. Sixteen Egyptian soldiers were killed, their vehicles commandeered and the terrorists set off for an Israeli Bedouin military base in the Negev, hoping to draw Israel and Egypt into war. Israel thwarted the attack.

That's not the odd part.

In the aftermath, one of the most interesting developments came from Egyptian blogger Dalia Ziada. Ziada, a liberal political analyst and activist in Cairo, is Executive Director of the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies, one of the oldest and largest human rights/civil liberties NGOs in the Arab world. She wrote in her blog that Israeli authorities had shared their information with Egyptian intelligence, but the intelligence agency had failed to act. Why, she wondered aloud, did the Israeli government take care of its citizens and the Egyptian government did not?

Kushner - From Israel:Sinai Anarchy

Arlene Kushner..
08 August '12..


On Sunday evening, 35 members of a Bedouin terrorist cell broke into an Egyptian army base in the Sinai, killing some 15 Egyptian soldiers and wounding others. They commandeered two armored jeeps, which headed to the Kerem Shalom crossing into Israel. (Kerem Shalom sits at the intersection of Israel, Egypt and Gaza.)

One of the jeeps exploded at the crossing -- likely because of explosives it was carrying -- and the other entered Israel, where it was intercepted by the IDF. No Israelis were killed or injured.

Eight terrorists were taken out, however; of these, at least six were wearing explosive belts. This was a sophisticated and exceedingly serious operation intent on causing disaster in a variety of venues.

Here you see just some of the weapons the terrorists -- understood to have been part of a global jihad terrorist infrastructure -- were carrying.

Credit: IDF spokesman

~~~~~~~~~~

Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Benny Gantz (left, below) and Brigadier General Tal Russo (second from right) toured the scene after the attack, and praised both Israeli intelligence and the fighting forces for their skill and their cooperative effort. We're talking about IDF Intelligence forces, the Air Force, armored ground forces, infantry and the Shin Bet.

Credit: Israel Hayom

~~~~~~~~~~

Said Russo:

"There were quite a few clashes before [the jeep] was destroyed. Armored forces, the Air Force and infantry forces closed in and eventually it was destroyed from the air and on the ground.

"Those who attempted to escape and fire at the forces after [the jeep] was destroyed, were also eliminated,"
~~~~~~~~~~

There are several implications that follow from this incident.

First is the way that this impacts the Egyptians. It's one thing for them to turn their back on terrorists who are harbored inside the Sinai with intention to cross the border into Israel and hit Israelis. It's quite another when terrorists hit an Egyptian army base and kill Egyptian soldiers.

Defense Minister Barak referred to this as a wake-up call for Egypt. The expectation is that Egypt will begin to act seriously with regard to regaining control of the Sinai.

The Sinai: Israel's Dilemma

P. David Hornik..
frontpagemag.com..
08 August '12..

On Sunday night, terrorists at the Egyptian-Israeli border stormed a checkpoint and massacred 16 Egyptian border guards there. They then drove two vehicles toward Israel with the aim of perpetrating a mass-casualty attack against Israeli civilians—thwarted by the combined efforts of the Israeli ground forces and air force.

Yet, according to official statements of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and of Hamas, the rulers of Gaza, the attack was carried out by—Israel.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor denounced such claims as “nonsense” and added: “Even the person who says this when he looks at himself in the mirror does not believe the nonsense he is uttering.”

There’s evidence that Palmor is right. Immediately after the attack, Hamas sealed off tunnels from Gaza into Sinai—since it’s suspected that small, non-Hamas, Gaza-based terror groups took part in the attack. Hamas, of course, does not really think Israeli operatives somehow got into Gaza, reached Sinai through the tunnels, and massacred Egyptian policemen before trying to ram one or two suicide vehicles full-speed into Israeli border villages.

The New Egypt, Egyptian pranks and the so-called Arab Spring.

Sarah Honig..
Another Tack..
30 July '12..

Candid Camera-like pranks can be more telling than they might be funny. Egypt’s Al-Nahar TV featured separate interviews with three popular actors – two men and one woman – who were each told at some point that their appearances were being screened on Israel’s Channel 2. That alone sufficed to trigger violence and/or vituperation.

It matters little whether each of the three was genuinely outraged or just thought it prudent to defend his/her reputation from any possible perceived Israeli contamination. The remotest and most indirect connection to Israel was presented as justifying fury.

Actor Ayman “Tuhami” Kandeel, believing his female interviewer was Israeli, began punching her, knocked her to the ground and proceeded to hurl furniture at the technical crew.

Fellow actor Mahmoud Abdel Ghaffar slapped the interviewer and shook her fiercely before being assured that “we’re all Egyptians here.” He excused himself: “You brought me someone who looks like a Jew. I hate the Jews to death.”

The aggression of actress Mayer El Beblawi was verbal and dripped with Jew-revulsion: “Israelis are all liars. They moan about the Holocaust, or whatever it’s called. They murdered the prophets. Allah hadn’t cursed worms and moths as much as he cursed the Jews.”

This is but one of numerous illustrations of the nature of the New Egypt, the one forged by a so-called Arab Spring.

Kushner - From Israel: Egypt

Arlene Kushner..
03 July '12..

It has been revealed that at the time Mohamed Morsi was to be sworn in as president of Egypt, PM Netanyahu's envoy, Yitzhak Molho (pictured), was in Egypt. There he met with General Murad Muwafi, the director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate and with Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the commander-in-chief of Egypt’s Armed Forces.

Discussions were held on cooperation in fighting terrorism in the Sinai and preventing smuggling of arms from the Sinai into Gaza. Molcho re-stated Israel's position: that the peace treaty, as spelled out in the 1979 Camp David Accords, must be maintained.

At the same time he delivered a personal letter from Netanyahu to Morsi, which emphasized that “the peace treaty is in the interest of both countries and contributes to regional stability.”

~~~~~~~~~~

It truly is in Egypt's best interest to maintain peace with Israel: Fiscally, the country is teetering on the brink of disaster Already a very poor country prior to the uprising, Egypt was set back seriously by the unrest, which drove away both tourists and investors. With increasing deficits and dwindling foreign currency reserves, Morsi faces huge challenges.

Given these parameters, the prospects of war against Israel are just about non-existent.

Gordon - Egypt's Lesson: Incitement is Not a Secondary Issue

Years of anti-Israel incitement taught Egyptians to hate the peace treaty. Yet similar incitement in the PA and Jordan is still being ignored.

Evelyn Gordon..
JINSA Analysis....
25 June '12..

On May 31, Israel delivered 91 bodies to the Palestinian Authority. The PA gave them full military funerals, complete with coffins draped in Palestinian flags and a 21-gun salute. While PA President Mahmoud Abbas didn't speak, he laid wreaths on the coffins and presided over the ceremony. The secretary-general of his office, Tayeb Abd Al-Rahim, and the PA's state-appointed mufti, Muhammad Hussein, both gave eulogies, in which they declared that the souls of the dead were urging other Palestinians to "follow in their path."

It could have been any state ceremony for fallen heroes anywhere - except that many of the "heroes" whose path Palestinians were being urged to follow were vicious terrorists who collectively killed more than 100 Israeli civilians. But this blatant state-sponsored incitement elicited no protests from either Israel, the U.S. or the European Union.

Nor is this exceptional: The monitoring organization Palestinian Media Watch documents almost daily incidents in which PA officials, the PA-controlled media, or PA-funded organizations glorify anti-Israel terrorism, reject Israel's right to exist, or deny the Jews' historic connection to the Land of Israel. Yet even Israel rarely protests, while America and Europe almost never do. Nor have the U.S. and Europe ever conditioned the hundreds of millions of dollars a year they give the PA on curtailing such incitement. For decades, the accepted wisdom has been that what matters is preventing violence and promoting a two-state solution; as long as the PA remains officially committed to the both, why upset the applecart over secondary issues?

But if there's one thing developments in Egypt over the last year should have made clear, it's that incitement is anything but a secondary issue. For without a serious effort to end incitement and educate for peace, even a signed treaty may prove to be worth no more than the paper it's printed on.

Gordon - A Toxic Brew in Sinai

Evelyn Gordon..
JINSA..
21 May '12..



To grasp how badly the security situation in Sinai has deteriorated, one fact suffices: Israel now receives as many intelligence warnings about Sinai-based terror plots as it does about terror from Gaza.

This, obviously, is of great concern to Israel. But it should also concern the international community because, unlike terror from the West Bank or Gaza, which, despite periodic Israeli counteroffensives, has never drawn other Arab countries into the conflict, Sinai-based terror could easily end up starting a war between Israel and Egypt.

Last summer, for instance, angry mobs throughout Egypt demanded retaliation after Israeli soldiers repelling a cross-border terror attack from Sinai accidentally killed Egyptian troops caught in the cross-fire. That time, sanity prevailed and the Egyptian government did not seek to escalate the situation militarily. But if cross-border attacks proliferate, more Egyptian casualties would likely ensue. Public demands for retaliatory action would then intensify - especially since Egypt's new leadership seems to prefer whipping up anti-Israel passions to cooling them down: In a televised debate earlier this month, for instance, both leading presidential contenders termed Israel an "enemy" and an "adversary" and vowed to reconsider the peace treaty.