"Celebrations across Mideast after ouster" by Zeina Karam, Associated Press / February 12, 2011
BEIRUT — In Israel, which had watched Egypt’s 18-day uprising against Mubarak with some trepidation, a former Cabinet minister said Mubarak did the right thing. “The street won. There was nothing that could be done. It’s good that he did what he did,’’ Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, a former defense minister who knew Mubarak well and spoke to him just a day earlier, told Israel TV’s Channel 10....
This after it was REPORTED on the BLOGS that ISRAEL was the one that CALLED and said he had to stay in there.
That is why Mubarak crossed everyone up and didn't resign in the speech.
But hey, what's one more obfuscation or omission from the AmeriKan news media, huh?
Israel followed the historic moment closely. Israel’s greatest concern in the past two weeks has been that its 1979 peace treaty with Egypt might not survive under a new government, particularly if Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood — the largest and most organized opposition group — gains influence....
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"Egypt’s military assures allies; Pledges to support civilian rule, honor treaty with Israel" by Kareem Fahim, New York Times / February 13, 2011
CAIRO — As a new era dawned in Egypt yesterday, the army leadership sought to reassure Egyptians and the world that it would shepherd a transition to civilian rule and honor international commitments like the peace treaty with Israel.
Why when they honor nothing?
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, welcomed the statement, saying the treaty “has greatly contributed to both countries and is the cornerstone for peace and stability in the entire Middle East.’’
Israel has been deeply concerned that Egypt’s turmoil could threaten the peace accord, the first between an Arab nation and Israel. But Egypt’s military strongly supports the peace deal, not in small part because it guarantees US aid for the armed forces, currently running at $1.3 billion a year. While anti-Israeli feeling is strong in Egypt, few so far seriously call for the treaty’s abrogation....
The truth is it is strong everywhere. No one likes an asshole.
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You know, I'm kind of sick of Israel dominating the foreign policy conversation here in AmeriKa.
Related: Declassified: Massive Israeli manipulation of US media exposed
I wonder how many millions the Globe got and is getting.
And look what happened the last time Egypt assured Israel:
"Israel’s close watch on Egypt" by H.D.S. Greenway February 12, 2011
The sublime moment that Israel failed to grasp, however. Instead of turning “no more wars’’ into a peace policy, Israel took it to mean that Egypt was now enabling Israel to make wars with other people. Within a year Israel sent its tanks into Lebanon up to the Litani River against pesky Palestinians: an operation Israel would expand upon, investing an Arab capital, Beirut, for the first time in 1982, occupying a zone in southern Lebanon, and creating conditions for the birth of Hezbollah, a resistance group for which there had hitherto been no need. The last Israeli war in Lebanon was in 2006, and another showdown with Hezbollah is more than probable.
Well, THERE YOU GO!!
Sadat also thought he had made a deal with Israel about the Palestinians. When Israel and Egypt made their formal peace in 1979, a headline in the Boston Globe declared: “Self-rule plan for West Bank.’’
Globe got it wrong again, huh?
There was to be a limited withdrawal of Israeli forces from the West Bank and Gaza, with an autonomous government for the Palestinians after a five-year transition period.
But Israel viewed the deal as giving up the Sinai only. Israel’s grip on the occupied territories tightened, leading later to two uprisings. Egypt swallowed its disappointment, but it never forgot.
Another chance came with the Oslo Accords, and the Palestinian shift in policy to recognize the state of Israel. It failed, partly because the Palestinians did not give up violence as a way to move Israel, but also because Israel never gave the Palestinians enough to believe that Oslo was ever going to work for them.
Later, Gaza was abandoned by Israel, but, with the concurrence of Egypt and the United States, Israel has maintained an iron blockade of Gaza, turning it into a giant prison, an act of collective punishment for electing Hamas in a free and fair election.
And thus a WAR CRIME!
Related: Evil Egypt
It sure as hell was under Mubarak.
Israel’s armed incursion back into Gaza in 2009 lost Israel its close alliance with Turkey.
Yes, a MASSIVE WAR CRIME made possible with U.S. assistance!!
Seems like Israel has to draw Arab blood every couple of years like an addict.
An Arab offer of peace for an end of occupation has lain on the table for years without an Israeli response.
Leaks from the Palestinian negotiating team show how far the Palestinians were willing to go to accommodate Israel in the furtherance of a two-state solution. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government would have none of it.
Related: Palestinians Get a Kick in the Abbas
I can't imagine that is going to help him with elections they are calling.
We will never know how the Middle East might have looked had Israel taken no-more-wars more literally, instead of using Egypt’s forbearance as a license to continue occupation and make wars elsewhere.
Egypt’s self-interest will maintain the formal peace with Israel. There will not be another Egyptian-Israeli war. It is unlikely, however, that Israel will find Cairo as accommodating in the future as it has in the past....
I wouldn't be too sure of no more war.
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