The Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty: To change or not to change

     This is an article from "ahramonline" which was written by Abdel Moneim Said on 10 Oct 2012. It is an analysis of the situation that Egypt finds itself in concerning the peace treaty with The Israeli State. I find it to be both informative and insightful.

     The issue of what Morsi should do concerning the peace treaty is very complicated and has many factors. It involves such factors as: diplomacy, Egyptian security, morality, and the domestic situation (which includes both economic and political factors).  Egypt is still involved in a revolution. Although some of the stages are over, much needs to be done before Egypt and its people can act as a sovereign nation. There are not only economic issues involving: poverty, unemployment and debt. There are also political issues involving: the establishment of a new constitution and the empowerment of an elected legislature.( I, for one, think that the current legislature is valid. But who am I, a Muslim from the U.S., to talk about the validity of an elected legislature that was elected with a great deal of transparency?) There are a number of different political elements within Egypt which need to be acknowledged and dealt with.

      I think Morsi is doing a great job in his attempts to include most of the political elements in Egypt in the decision making process. He has a council of advisers, many of whom are representatives of the major political elements. He has included a Coptic Christian, in this council, who is known to be good at building bridges between Coptic Christians and Muslims.

   There is the issue of Egyptian security. How much security does Egypt have with the peace treaty? How much will it have if the peace treaty is broken?

      Here is the article:
            "Some forces who participated in the revolution object to the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, although many add that their objection does not mean going to war. They of course realise that war, like love, must be between two sides and decisions are not taken unilaterally. Also, that the other party will decide whether it is in their interest to live with a no-war no-peace status once again, or go to war before Egypt regains its strength and the revolution succeeds in its development process, making it the “strong Egypt” Abdel-Moneim Abul-Futouh talked about.

          "That is what happened to Egypt after the Czech arms deals, and Israel participated in the tripartite aggression against Egypt in 1956 to stifle Egypt’s military might before it could progress it.
Some of revolutionaries do not reject the treaty in its entirety but want to amend it so Egypt can regain complete sovereignty over Sinai. This would mean revising the security protocol appendix which divides Sinai into areas of limited arms in zones A, B and C and a corresponding Zone D in Israel. This is closely linked to a comprehensive monitoring system of troop movements by multinational forces present in Sinai.
The aim was to create a security system that prevents both Egypt and Israel from performing a strategic surprise against the other, as Israel had done in 1967 and Egypt against Israel in 1973. The real surprise for both sides came from a third party, the Islamist jihadists, who began during Mubarak’s regime to carry out terrorist attacks in Sinai as well as breaching its border with Gaza through tunnels.
After the Egyptian Revolution, jihadists began attacking military and civilian targets, and then used Sinai to attack Israel.

      " This was not the image in the minds of those who signed the peace treaty and the security protocols, but this is the direct outcome of the military vacuum that was manipulated by other forces to directly threaten the security of both sides on a daily basis. There are ongoing battles with the Egyptian army which took a strategic decision to stamp out terrorist forces and close tunnels and single-handedly control decisions of war and peace with Israel.

      "Meanwhile, the Israeli army also battled the same forces which destabilised Sinai and is unacceptable for Egypt, because a precious part of its territories is under a dual threat. First, the threat of force against Egyptian security troops; second, the possibility of Israel giving chase to jihadists into Egyptian territories which threatens Egypt’s security and puts Egyptian territories at risk of being occupied once again. This would mean that Egypt has no other choice but to go to war with Israel once again.

      "This is not all happening in a vacuum. Some domestic revolutionary forces want to renounce the peace with Israel, and while they do not discuss the future of development under such a scenario the natural conclusion would be that development will be postponed indefinitely. Representing this current in political circles is Mohamed Esmat Seif El-Dawla, who has repeatedly said that revising the peace treaty is only a matter of time.

      "This angered the Israelis, and President Morsi’s spokesman Yasser Ali quickly responded that the president’s advisers are expressing their personal opinions and Egypt’s position of upholding the peace treaty has not changed.

      "These contradictory statements in top political circles are the result of contradictions on the ground in Egypt that need to be addressed with determined seriousness, so we can decide our agenda of discussions about Egypt’s national priorities. Today, we want to develop Sinai from corner to corner and for this reason and others we must secure it from corner to corner, whether from a variety of terrorist groups or an attack by Israel.

      "Achieving these goals is not possible without revising the security protocols of the peace treaty to allow Egyptian troops to enter with necessary forces to end the current threat. The problem here is that Israel, and perhaps even the US, must first agree to these revisions. Thus far, they have done so on a temporary basis because of current conditions.

      "This is perhaps the first serious national security issue that President Morsi has to deal with and should rely on his well-known trait of prudence. This position cannot be subject to revolutionary bartering or party manouevring. Perhaps the president should form a group of national security and foreign policy officials to manage the issue and negotiate with foreign parties responsible for implementing the security protocols.
One other matter remains, which the president himself raised, which is the relationship between the peace treaty and the Palestinian cause which is an integral part of the Camp David agreement that is linked to Egypt’s peace with Israel and guarantees the Palestinian people are given their legitimate rights.

      "This is an even more complex issue because so far there has been no specific Egyptian approach in dealing with the issue, and it is unknown if Cairo is willing to exert a special effort to relaunch the peace process after the US elections. Or whether Egypt’s approach is to leave the matter to the key players, the Palestinians and Israelis, to decide.

      "It is a subject that requires a lot of thought and clear direction, because for seven decades this issue has been a priority for Egypt’s national security."
     
http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/55214.aspx.

Hamas to help Egypt find Sinai terrorists

Aug. 17, 2012
Source:UPI

GAZA, Aug. 17 (UPI) -- Hamas said it is dedicated to helping Egypt find the those responsible for killing 16 Egyptian border guards in the Sinai Peninsula.

The announcement came Thursday as rumors surfaced that Hamas and Egypt formed a joint security committee to investigate the Aug. 5 attack, The Jerusalem Post reported.

"We are doing everything we can to help Egypt in gathering information and carrying out other security measures to reveal the identity of the perpetrators of the massacre," said Ehab Ghissin, spokesman of the Hamas-run Interior Ministry.

Hamas and Egyptian authorities are working together "on all levels" to solve the case and bring the perpetrators to trial, Ghissin said.

Israel might let Egypt boost Sinai troops

Aug 28, 2011
Source: Yahoo News

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said that if Egypt asked to increase its troops in the Sinai peninsula, the request would be brought before the security cabinet, public radio said.

Netanyahu's remarks were made to ministers from his right-wing Likud party before the start of the weekly cabinet meeting -- the first since an attack on August 18 killed eight Israelis on a desert road near the Egyptian border by gunmen who infiltrated from the Sinai.

As Cairo seeks to clamp down on militant activity in the peninsula, it has in recent months asked Israel to approve a temporary increase of troops there, raising questions about the need to change the terms of the 1979 peace treaty which limits the number of Egyptian forces there.

But Netanyahu told ministers that such a step would not be taken hurriedly, media reports said.

"If we are going to alter the peace treaty with Egypt -- and I don't think that it is something we need to rush into -- it must be approved by the cabinet," the Haaretz news website quoted him as saying.

So far, Cairo has asked Israel to approve any new increase of troops in the restive peninsula, a senior defence official told AFP on Sunday.

"Until now, there has been no demand for more troops in the Sinai and it is not on the agenda," a senior defence ministry official told AFP on Sunday.

Earlier, Defence Minister Ehud Barak said that since the fall of the regime of former president Hosni Mubarak in February, Israel had "on several occasions" approved Egyptian requests to allow extra forces into the peninsula.

"Since the latest crisis, we let them send in battalions on several occasions," he told public radio referring to the fall of Mubarak and pointing out that Sinai covers an area which is more than three times the size of Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

"The matter was requested by them on a temporary basis to ensure that the gas pipelines are not blown up, so that (the Egyptian port city of) El-Arish wouldn't be taken over by the Bedouins, and in order to allow the shared fight against terrorism to continue," he said.

The minister was referring to a major Egyptian operation in the northern Sinai which was launched two weeks ago to clamp down on militants who have staged at least five attacks on a gas pipeline supplying Israel and Jordan since February.

The area is also rife with Bedouin outlaws.

"We have an interest in stability, we have an interest in the problem being resolved on the other side" of the border, Barak said, while stressing the paramount importance of the peace treaty for the two neighbours.

Several days after the operation began, public radio reported that Netanyahu had given Cairo the green light increase its troops in Sinai in order to "restore order" there.

Egypt supplies about 40 percent of Israel's natural gas and the repeated attacks on the pipeline have sparked a spike in domestic prices as the Jewish state struggles with a wave of mass protests against the spiralling cost of living.