Egypt.----With Friends Like These...

According to Middle East sources Assistant Secretary of State Robert Danin, visited Cairo last weekend to tell the Government that the US is prepared to cut its aid to the "moderate" Arab nation by as much as $500 Million. The primary reason is Egypt's refusal to stem the tide of weapons into Gaza and because it is not supporting the Annapolis conference. But there is much more to it. Egypt has become a perfect example of that old saying, "with friends like these...."

Yuval Steinitz, a Likud Member of Knesset and chairman of a subcommittee on defense and terrorism, has written a letter to the Senate The letter says in part:

In recent years the flow of weapons and ammunition through Egypt to terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip—mainly to Islamic groups like Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Palestinian affiliates of Al-Qaeda—has become extremely significant.

In the last two years, the rate of smuggling enables Hamas to establish a fundamentalist terror army in Gaza, based on the Hizbullah model in Lebanon. According to Israeli intelligence Gaza is absorbing, on an annual basis, approximately: 20,000 rifles, 6,000 anti-tank missiles (mainly RPGs), 100 tons of explosives, and several dozens of Katyusha rockets as well as shoulder-held anti-aircraft missiles. . . .

A new development…in the last three months is the organized departure of large groups of operatives from Gaza for military training in Iran. Egypt permits their transit to Tehran…. In late September, a group of 100 operatives who completed their exercises in Iran was permitted to cross the border back into Gaza, despite strong Israeli protests….

Egypt’s claim that it is doing its best to end this situation by uncovering smuggling tunnels into Gaza is simply an insult to the intelligence…. All [the Egyptians] have to do for this purpose is to erect a number of roadblocks along the very few roads that run from mainland Egypt to the Gaza region, in order to intercept heavily loaded trucks carrying hundreds of rifles and missiles from reaching the border. Alternatively, they can declare the border area a closed military zone, with a depth of 2-3 miles into the interior of Sinai, and prevent any movement in it. Since the entire length of the Egyptian-Gaza border is less than 9 miles, the area affected will be equivalent in size to a military airbase….

It is hard to deny that this Egyptian behavior constitutes a gross violation of the 1979 Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty….

In essence, this strategy of turning a blind eye to the smuggling is quite similar to the policies of Syria and Iran regarding arms smuggling into Iraq. The only difference is that in contrast to those countries, Egypt is still considered an ally of the west, and is heavily supported by the United States.

When Steinitz referred to the violation of the Egyptian-Israeli treaty, he could have had in mind its Article III-2: “Each Party undertakes to ensure that acts or threats of belligerency, hostility, or violence do not originate from and are not committed from within its territory, or by any forces subject to its control or by any other forces stationed on its territory, against the population, citizens or property of the other Party….”

....It is a radical understatement to say that, over twenty-eight years later, Egypt has not upheld these obligations. It prohibits almost all relations with Israel and forbids its citizens to travel to it. Hosni Mubarak, in his twenty-six years as president, has come to Israel only once—for Yitzhak Rabin’s funeral—and has never paid a state visit even though Israeli leaders often go to Cairo.

And rather than “abstaining from hostile propaganda,” Egypt’s media, publishing houses, and mosque sermons put out a steady stream of anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic hatred and incitement.

So the question becomes why is Condi Rice "busting Israel's chops" when the Arab countries have never met a treaty it didn't break. Even her Palestinian buddies have never kept a treaty:

The original 1993 Declaration of Principles said Israel and the PLO “agree that it is time to put an end to decades of confrontation and conflict….” But by the time of the Gaza-Jericho agreement in May 1994, the Palestinian bus bombings had already begun and it was felt necessary for the parties to “REAFFIRM . . . their determination to live in peaceful coexistence, mutual dignity and security. . . .”

And you know...except for the homocide bombings, the incitement of children through schoolbooks and adults in Mosques, Politician's hate speeches, systematically destroying Jewish holy sites , the drive-by shooting, and the Kassams, the Palestinians have kept to their part of the of reaffirming their determination to live in peaceful coexistence.

So tell me once again..why is Olmert going to Annapolis?

Quoted areas come from Egypt’s Ongoing Jihad By P. David Hornik