Getting Egypt to Lend a Hand

by Daniel E. Levenson

January 12, 2009

JERUSALEM - Here in Jerusalem the moon is out, the air is cool and the mood is hard to gauge. Although things feel normal on the street during the day, and shops and restaurants have customers, there is an underlying awareness that these are not normal times. Most people seem upset at the civilian deaths in Gaza, but at the same time, it is incomprehensible that any nation-state would continue to tolerate indiscriminate rocket attacks aimed at civilian population centers. And so the fighting goes on.

I think that one of the saddest parts of all of this is that while innocent people are being killed on both sides, neither the Egyptians nor anyone else in the Arab world seems interested in making a positive diplomatic contribution to bringing this bloodshed to an end. It seems as if the entire Arab world has ceded the political and national destiny of the Palestinians to the leaders of Hamas. Granted, Egypt has its own internal issues to deal with, and Lebanon and Jordan face internal pressures as well, but it still mystifies me as to why if these other countries are so dedicated to helping the Palestinians achieve statehood, they seem permanently unable to make real contributions toward a lasting peace and the creation of institutions that would allow a peaceful Palestinian state to arise. Instead we have a chorus of unhelpful voices in the region, with leaders in Iran initially encouraging university students to become suicide bombers and the Egyptian government slowing cease-fire efforts because they don’t want foreign troops on their border with Gaza. This last point seems a little ironic, given Egypt’s own border problems with Gaza in the past.

Now it seems that the European Union is floating a plan that would restore Palestinian Authority in Gaza, which sounds like a good idea to me. But Egypt is objecting, as Haaretz reported online : “Instead of foreign troops, Cairo told Israel and the European Union, it was prepared to accept only increased international technical assistance to help its own forces combat arms smuggling through tunnels dug across the border. Israel is demanding the tunnel traffic end as part of a cease-fire deal.” For the sake of everyone involved, I think the smart (and humane) thing to do would be to find a way to make this arrangement work. It won’t solve the conflict, it may not bring to a complete end to the conflicts between Hamas and the IDF, but it would at least set the stage for the return of the PA to Gaza, which, although Hamas would surely not be happy about such a state of affairs, would probably improve the quality of life for Gazans and hopefully put an end to the terrorism by rocket that Hamas seems to have fully embraced. Such a move would no doubt inflame tensions between Hamas and Fatah again, but that seems to be an inevitable battle given the intractability of the Hamas position on Israel and the PA’s willingness to at least consider making peace.

Copyright Daniel E. Levenson 2009