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May 11th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
Such rhetoric, which has been a regular feature on the Egyptian
political scene since last year’s overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, has inevitably
caused alarm in Israel. But on Friday government officials in Jerusalem were
phlegmatic about the debate, saying they saw it in the context of electoral
populism.
“In Egypt, you are seeing more pluralism and democracy that at any time
in its recent history but when it comes to Israel there is only one
discourse,” said Yigal Palmor, a spokesman for the Israeli foreign
ministry.
“I think it is quite obvious that the populist thing to do is to bash
Israel as strongly as you can. The more you bash Israel, the more points you
gain, regardless of whether you are Islamist or secular.”
Perhaps significantly, arguments over Israel were only briefly addressed
during a debate that lasted four hours.
While many Egyptians are hostile towards Israel, the subject does not dominate
the agenda of a country still trying to shape its identity in the
post-Mubarak era. Moreover, opinion polls indicate that a narrow majority of
Egyptians regard the peace treaty positively and wish to keep it.
Both candidates have also declared that they support the pact. Mr Moussa has
pledged to honour the agreement, saying that he could not envisage its
cancellation “under any circumstances” while Mr Aboul Fotouh,
though more guarded, has also expressed his support for the deal.
But there have undoubtedly been mixed messages, and Israel says it will
reserve judgment until a new president has assumed office in Egypt.
“We are taking notes of all the statements guaranteeing full respect of
the treaty and we are also taking note of other sounds in other debates,”
said Mr Palmor. “We will only know when the political situation
stabilises what their intentions really are.”
Among the statements that has caused concern in Israel is a declaration last
month by Mr Moussa that the Camp David accords of 1978, which underpinned
the peace treaty signed the following year, were “dead and buried”.
But Mr Moussa has been careful to differentiate between the accords and the
peace treaty itself. He says his declaration was based on the fact that the
Camp David agreements called for the Palestinian people to achieve full
autonomy within five years, leading to a full Israeli military withdrawal
from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Neither ever happened.
But such pronouncements are largely rhetorical. More worryingly for Israel,
both candidates say they seek something more tangible by revising a clause
in the 1979 peace treaty that allows Egypt to maintain only one military
division in most of Sinai, the area occupied by Israel during the Six Day
War of 1967 until its withdrawal under the terms of the deal.
With Islamist militants establishing an increasingly threatening presence in
Sinai, Israel has privately encouraged Egypt to ignore the treaty’s
provisions and send more security forces into the region.
But Israeli government officials say they would be strongly opposed to
renegotiating any aspect of the treaty itself, saying such a move could lead
to its wholesale collapse.
“It is widely known that Egypt has sent more troops than officially
allowed by the treaty and it has done so with Israel’s consent,” one
official said.
“We would agree to such ad hoc arrangements from time to time, but we
would regard any attempt to open up specific articles of the treaty totally
differently. It would cast a cloud and shadow over the whole treaty.”
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