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Margaret Weiss is a graduate of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton and is interested in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and terrorism.
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By Margaret Weiss
January 15, 2007
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Israel and Egypt's diplomatic relations date back to the historic peace treaty signed in Washington in March, 1979. With this, Egypt became the first Arab country to officially recognize Israel's existence.
At first glance, almost 30 years later the two countries seem to have maintained a strong relationship. For example, Egypt has been the primary mediating party in discussing a prisoner swap deal for Gilad Shalit. And then there is the recent meeting between Prime Minister Olmert and President Mubarak in Egypt.
However, the truth of the matter is that Egypt has the advantage of advertising its peace with Israel when convenient, while undercutting it whenever it doesn't serve its interests -- virtually without rebuke.
There are far too many examples of Egyptian hostility towards Israel under President Mubarak. These are just a few:
1) Egypt allowed Palestinian Prime Minister and head of Hamas Ismail Haniyeh to bring a $20 million gift from Saudi Arabia into Gaza from Egypt.
When asked about it, President Mubarak told Prime Minister Olmert that Egyptian law does not allow it to confiscate foreign funds if they are declared. However, according to the agreement reached when Israel handed over control of the Philadelphia Corridor to Egyptian and Palestinian control, Egypt must place a financial embargo on the Hamas government.
2) During Olmert's recent meeting with Mubarak in Egypt, the Egyptian President made an aggressive statement that went unnoticed thanks to the translator who was on hand.
"When the Arabic text of Mubarak's statements at the press conference was double checked [it became apparent that] the official translator at the press conference had taken the edge off them...Mubarak had actually equated the violent actions of the Palestinian and Israeli sides, calling them both "terror." The Jerusalem Post
3) Egypt's media is consistently virulently anti-Semitic and anti-Israel.
Everything from Holocaust denial to fatwas calling for the murder of Israelis in Egypt can be found on Egyptian TV. Al-Ahram, the Egyptian daily regularly prints articles supporting suicide terrorism in Israel, conspiracy theories against Jews, and anti-Semitic cartoons.
and 4) Mubarak has never made an official visit to Israel for over two decades that he has been President (except to attend Yitzhak Rabin's funeral in 1995).
When Sadat made peace with Israel, the Arab world was furious and the Arab League suspended Egypt's membership. Egypt's status in the League was regained only after Sadat was assassinated and Mubarak became president. There is no doubt that Mubarak is afraid of enraging the Arab world by visiting Israel. In Mubarak's eyes, as long as he doesn't make official visits to Israel, he can join everyone else in condemning it.
On January 3, members of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee sent Olmert a written request advising him to reconsider his upcoming visit to Egypt. The MKs said Olmert should visit Egypt on the condition that they would set a date for a "reciprocal, official, first of its kind visit by the Egyptian president to Israel." MK Yuval Steinitz (Likud) told Ynet, "This situation sends the message to the entire region that despite the peace agreement between the two countries, Egypt doesn't acknowledge Israel."
Beyond not acknowledging Israel, Egypt deliberately and repeatedly dishonors Israel and the agreement between them. And no one does a thing to stop it. Israelis seem to be more concerned with the illusion of peace than with ensuring that Egypt proves itself as a peaceful neighbor.
As the saying goes, with a friend like Egypt, Israel doesn't need enemies.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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