NOVANEWS
January 1, 2011
by Dr. Ashraf Ezzat
People in Egypt don`t have to waste their time suspecting and accusing al Qaeda, ..Egyptians know better, .. they know that al Qaeda is a joke, …they only point the finger at Israel, the one implacable enemy who happened to be the conspirator behind destabilizing Iraq and the whole region.
By Dr. Ashraf Ezzat / Staff Writer
What kind of images come to your mind whenever Egypt is mentioned? To a lot of people Egypt is automatically associated with the pyramids, the river Nile and the historical monuments of the great pharaohs.
But modern Egypt is a lot more than just a world tourist attraction.
Egypt besides the long history and culture is one of the leading nations in regard to liberation from European colonialism; the Egyptian revolution in 1952 was an inspiration to a lot of liberation movements in Africa and the Middle East.
During the era of the cold war, Egypt- with India and former Yugoslavia- initiated the non alignment movement (NAM) an intergovernmental organization of states considering themselves not aligned formally with or against any major power bloc. But the enthusiastic call for pan- Arabism was and still is- one of the most important political projects Egypt had adopted and advocated during the 1960th. The idea of Arabic union with economic, political and military collaboration is a dream all Arab peoples long for but on the other hand this project of Arabic unity is deemed a potential and clear danger to a small country in the Middle East namely, Israel.
The Egyptian policy kept changing according to the local and international variables throughout the years. Egypt transformed from a constitutional monarchy at the first half of the twentieth century, to a socialist republic during the 1950-60th and now to a state with a free market economy. Egyptians changed in so many ways, socially and economically that is, throughout the last 60 years. Egyptians vary in their political perspectives; they might as well disagree on a wide range of public issues but all Egyptians agree on one indisputable fact concerning their national security, they all view Israel as the permanent and implacable enemy.
Sometimes people get so wrapped up in nowadays news and conflicts they nearly forgot what happened during the last 60 years.
Egyptian- Israeli military conflict
October 1973 War, Egyptian troops victoriously crossing the Suez canal into Sinai peninsula
From day one to its foundation, Egypt knew very well that Israel is a real threat to its eastern strategic borders and to the whole area as well. Egypt knew that the newly implanted Zionist regime was mainly aiming to expand by illegally grabbing more of the Arabic land.
So the Arab-Israeli conflict began as an Egyptian-Israeli military confrontation for the simple fact that Egypt was the strongest and the leader nation of the Arab world not to mention that it shared borders with Israel and Palestine.
From 1948 till 1973 Egypt got into 4 wars with Israel;
Palestine war, the brutal Israeli occupation of Palestine ( Nakba ) 1948
The Suez war ( tripartite aggression ) was a war fought by Britain, France, and Israel against Egypt beginning on 29 October 1956.
The six-day war in June 1967, a sneaky Israeli attack that left part of the Egyptian land- Sinai peninsula- occupied by Israel.
October war 1973, in which the Egyptian military managed to retaliate against the humiliation of the June war and proudly put an end to the Israeli military invincibility and complacency.
The late president Anwar El Sadat of Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979 – Camp David accords- thus making Egypt the first ever Arabic nation to officially recognize Israel as a sovereign state in the Middle East and amidst the Arab world. That was a political dream Israel had been begging for through official political channels and backstage diplomacy as well.
The Camp David accords gave Israel what she wanted, Israel enjoyed peace on the long congested Egyptian front and she even enjoyed bilateral political, economical and agricultural exchange with Egypt. Israel even managed to sign a deal that allowed Egypt to supply Israel with all its needs of the natural gas through pipelines- extending all the way from Egypt to Israeli territories- which the Israeli officials called it “peace pipelines”
Israel used natural gas to replace fuel oil that powers its three major electric plants that runs its military facilities in the country as well.
Frozen peace
Celebrating the signing of the Camp David Accords: Menachem Begin, Jimmy Carter, Anwar El Sadat
One thing kept this peace treaty from being fully activated, namely the reluctance of the masses of Egyptian people to accept it, so the normalization of the bilateral relations remained virtually frozen till this very day.
The Camp David was an Egyptian political decision not a public one, consequently it remained as such. The policy makers in both countries exchanged ambassadors and delegations and often held meetings but the ice was never broken amongst Egyptians and Israelis.
Throughout the last 30 years since the signing of Camp David accords not one Egyptian journalist or artist or writer or even a college student or a professor dared- voluntarily that is- to visit or participate at any international event where Israel is an active participant.
Even more, all Israeli cultural activities, artists and products are banned from collaborating or participating at any Egyptian events like cinema and musical festivals. Israeli literature and books are banned in Egypt. This antagonist attitude is something the Israelis always complained about and tried to bring about any change to it.
For the Egyptians and most of the Arabs there was nothing peculiar about their refusal to normalize the relations with the Israelis on the cultural level for they cannot shake hands with settlers who occupied the Arabic land by brutal force. They cannot forget 60 long years of military massacres and political deception. They cannot turn a blind eye to the ongoing genocide in Palestine. They cannot forget the long history of bloodshed and grabbed land. And most of all they cannot get over the deeply embedded into the collective Arabic psyche belief that Israel is never to be trusted.
Another Israeli spy network uncovered inciting sectarian violence between Muslims & christians in Egypt
Lately, Egypt has uncovered a spy ring that included two Israelis and an Egyptian businessman suspected of collecting info on telecoms companies, and once again the days proved that 350 million people in the Arab world can’t be wrong about distrusting Israel.
“The Egyptian general prosecutor ordered the transfer of three accused persons, who included two Israeli fugitives and one detained Egyptian Tarek Abdel Aziz, to be sent for trial before the emergency state security supreme criminal court on January 15th on the charges of spying for Israel and harming the country’s national interests.
The investigations with the suspected Israeli spy revealed a lot of surprising findings;
The Egypt-based Israeli ring had links with other Israeli espionage networks operating in Syria and Lebanon
The Mossad was conducting covert surveillance of the phone calls of top Egyptian officials.
Israel – in the post-Camp David era- is targeting the stability of Egypt by inciting the sectarian violence between Muslims and Christians in Egypt – … as a matter of fact, as i was editing this post a car bomb exploded in front of a churh in Alexndria (St. Mary & St. Peter church) on the new year`s eve leaving 21 killed and 80 wounded and some of the initial speculations are seriously pointing the finger at an Israeli agenda behind this terrorist attack.
Israel was behind the mysterious cut of Egypt main internet cable- connecting Egypt to the international network in January, 2008. The cut led to millions of dollars losses to the Egyptian economy especially the tourist sector.
The Mossad has recruited another Egyptian spy – still on the loose- who managed to infiltrate and work with the Islamists groups in Egypt.
