Egyptian Military Reaffirms It Will Honor Peace Treaty With Israel
Well, this should make Israel just a little less nervous about developments in the nation to its east:
CAIRO—Egypt’s new military rulers indicated Saturday they would abide by the country’s peace treaty with Israel and said they aim to ensure a peaceful transition to elections and a “free democratic state.”
A day after the ouster of Egypt’s longstanding president, Hosni Mubarak, the country’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces issued a communiqué saying the country “is committed to all regional and international obligations and treaties.” Those treaties include its 1979 peace agreement with Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the announcement, saying the peace agreement “has greatly contributed to both countries and is the cornerstone of peace and stability in the entire Middle East.”
This makes sense from the military’s point of view, of course. The Camp David Accords came after Egypt had fought two wars against Israel, and lost both. There’s little reason for Egypt to want to take its chances against Israel again. Moreover. thanks largely to the peace created by the Accords, the Egyptian military gets billions of dollars a year in U.S. aid. Why would they want to upset that apple cart? In fact, from Israel’s point of view, the best future for Egypt is likely to be one where the military continues to play some kind of role. Of course, there isn’t any rational reason why a civilian controlled Egyptian government should want to bring what has been a very successfully peace treaty to an end, but this is the Middle East and there’s not very much that’s rational.
The real question is whether Egypt will allow the continued economic and political starvation of the Palestinian people, or will it open it’s borders. That will be the true measure of autocracy or democracy in Egypt.
It is Israel that will threaten peace, if it demands are not met, not Egypt.