Israel's Egyptian Doorkeeper

The Propagandists of the Elders of Zion must work overtime to convince us that Israel really, really, really wants peace with its neighbours. And this is often the kind of 'evidence' they tender: "Following the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty of 1979, Israel agreed to withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula in exchange for peace with its neighbor. For over 2 decades, the Sinai Peninsula was home to about 7,000 Israelis. Many Israelis were opposed to the idea of giving up land for an uncertain peace. Over 3,000 settlers in the town of Yamit opposed withdrawal and violently resisted the evacuation of their homes. Under Ariel Sharon's command, the IDF forcefully evacuated settlers from Yamit. The images of Israeli civilians being dragged from their homes by Israeli soldiers resonates in the minds of many Israelis and is an important symbol of how far Israel is willing to go for peace. The Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula showed that Israel is willing to make painful sacrifices for peace. By withdrawing from Sinai, Israel gave up: The homes of over 7,000 Israelis; The Alma Oil Field, valued at over $100 billion - Israel would have had energy independence had they held on to it; More than 170 military installations; Dozens of early warning stations and strategic defense locations." (theisraelproject.org)

But here's what they don't tell you: "Egyptian officials start talking about Egypt's sovereignty every time Gaza is in need of food, even though the people of Gaza have no army intending to invade. All they need - desperately need - is to be able to buy food and other necessities. Maybe the resistance groups have other goals, smuggling money and other weapons in order to defend themselves against Israeli aggression. But whatever weapons are in Gaza, they are not there to fight against Egypt. It is clear that the Egyptian authorities are not revealing the truth about their country's lack of sovereignty over Sinai, and that all this talk about sovereignty and national security is misleading. The fact is, Egypt has no authority over Sinai and cannot take any strategic action without consulting Israel and America. The Camp David accords of 1979 gave Egypt autonomy over Sinai, an allowance similar to that of the Palestinian Authority, and it is limited to running civil affairs. According to the agreement, Egypt can only have one army brigade stationed on the western side of the Sinai Peninsula, west of the Metla and Jeddi routes. This is a purely symbolic presence, in deference to Egypt's self-respect, but this brigade is in no position to go to war or defend Egypt, or even impose any specific policy on behalf of Egypt.The same accord says that the Egyptian army has to be 2 kilometres away from the hypothetical Egyptian-Palestinian border, and Egypt cannot build any air force bases in Sinai; the US, however, can and did build 2 huge airfields for Israel in the Negev Desert as part of the deal. Egypt retains a limited police force in Sinai for civil security and it has to prosecute any persons or groups who try to threaten Israel's security. It is clear that the whole agreement was based on Israel's security, and if Egypt had refused any aspect of this, Israel would not have pulled its forces out of Sinai. For this reason, opening the Rafah border between Egypt and Gaza is not allowed, because the border is part of Israel's 'security', and opening it threatens that security. In short, Israel controls the Rafah crossing, not Egypt. Israel decides when Rafah is to be opened and for how long; Egypt is the doorkeeper, no more than that." (Egypt's lack of sovereignty, Dr Abdel Sattar Qassem, Professor of Political Studies, Al Najah National University, 2/1/10, middleeastmonitor.org.uk)

Withdrawal? What bloody withdrawal?

[See also my 23/12/09 post USrael's Arab Whores]