Why must everyone have to please Israel?
"Israel adjusts to new Egypt power dynamic; Officials must appeal to masses as well as leaders" August 29, 2011|By Joel Greenberg, Washington Post
JERUSALEM - A deadly border incident this month that drew a threat by Egypt to recall its ambassador to Israel has starkly revealed the changed political terrain in the relationship between the two countries.
Israeli officials who relied on the former Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, as a partner in upholding the 1979 Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty are now contending with the newly assertive voice of public opinion in Egypt and its influence on that country’s leadership.
There is a growing realization in Israel that maintaining ties with Egypt no longer depends solely on cultivating the relationship with its leaders. Adopting stances that are more acceptable to ordinary Egyptians and the various political forces emerging in that country after Mubarak’s ouster has become important as well.
Related: Declassified: Massive Israeli manipulation of US media exposed
It really shows, too.
“There’s a new factor now, the masses, who are setting the pace and dictating moves,’’ said Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, a veteran politician and former defense minister long known for his relationships with Mubarak and senior Egyptian officials....
Sensitivity to the Egyptian response was also evident in Israel’s handling of a subsequent flare-up along the border with the Gaza Strip, where several days of Israeli air strikes and rocket attacks by militants threatened to trigger wider military action. However, Israel’s security cabinet decided against a broader military operation, largely out of consideration for the impact such a move would have in Egypt, where public sympathy with the Palestinians runs high.
Then why is not Israel backing off?
The new calculations reflect the overriding interest in Israel in preserving the relationship with Egypt and the peace treaty, which Barak said had “great importance and great strategic value for stability in the Middle East.’’ Egypt shares a long border with Israel, and the peace accord has been a key component of the strategic balance in the region.
Which is also an overriding interest in my newspaper.
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"Israel sends more warships to Egypt border" Associated Press / August 31, 2011
JERUSALEM - Israel sent two more warships to the Red Sea border with Egypt, the military said yesterday, part of a reinforcement following warnings that militants were planning another attack on southern Israel from Egyptian soil.
Earlier this week, Israel’s military ordered more troops to the border area following intelligence reports of an impending attack, days after militants crossed into Israel through the Egyptian border and killed eight Israelis in a brazen attack that touched off a wave of violence between Israel and militants in the Gaza Strip.
Relative calm has returned, but Israel has remained on alert, closing roads near the border and warning citizens against traveling to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, a popular vacation destination....
Israel has a permanent naval presence with a base in Eilat, at the northern tip of the Red Sea on the Egyptian border....
Isn't that where the NOW INVISIBLE ISRAELI PROTESTS against THEIR OWN GOVERNMENT were?
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Related: Israel Wants Another War
I guess Egypt got the message:
"Egypt begins closing smugglers’ tunnels near Gaza" September 05, 2011|By Michael Birnbaum, Washington Post
CAIRO - Egypt has begun sealing a series of smugglers’ tunnels between its border and the Gaza Strip, security officials said yesterday, in an apparent attempt to increase security after a violent cross-border incident with Israel set off the worst diplomatic conflict between the countries in decades.
The area around the town of Rafah is rife with smuggling, as hundreds of tunnels ferry construction materials, consumer goods, and weapons into Gaza to bypass the Israeli blockade. Israel contends the tunnels also facilitate attacks by militants.
The smuggling has only increased since the ouster of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in February, as police officers pulled back from the Sinai Peninsula in the early days of the uprising, decreasing security in the area.
On Aug. 18, militants, who Israel said had criss-crossed from Gaza into Egypt and back again, attacked an Israeli resort town, killing eight. Israeli security forces killed five Egyptian border guards in the crossfire as they pursued the attackers. Since then, a new resolve to secure the region has set in on both sides of the border.
The Egyptian military “brought their stones and their concrete,’’ using large equipment to destroy the tunnels, in some cases filling them with concrete and gravel, said Fathy al-Nahas, 40, a contractor who owns a small tunnel near the border with Gaza, in a telephone interview yesterday. He said that he used his tunnel - which he said was too narrow for a person to fit into - to send building supplies into Gaza.
Also see: Evil Egypt
The action was a sign that Egypt remained too close to Israel, he said, adding, “The government won’t upset Israel or America.’’
Thousands of Egyptian troops have fanned into Sinai in the last month as Egypt has attempted to increase security. The heightened troop presence is yet another sign of the new relationship taking shape between Israel and Egypt, after decades in which Mubarak’s tolerant if unenthusiastic stance toward Israel was far more conciliatory than Egyptian public opinion....
Mubarak was their best friend and he's described as tolerant but unenthusiastic?
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Related:
"White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan described the Arab revolts as a speed bump that only temporarily disrupted cooperation. He said US contacts in Egypt have been able to recover quickly following longtime leader Hosni Mubarak’s ouster this year. The counterterrorism relationship with Tunisia, where the Arab Spring movement began, also remains strong, he added....
That confirms what Fathy said, doesn't it? Meaning the revolution is not over.
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