Nobody wants to return to the days when Egypt routinely made war on, or sponsored terrorists attacks against, Israel. Nobody, that is, in Israel and the West. But in Egypt? No doubt, some sane heads occupy its current military leadership, however much they may dislike Israel. But will these sane heads prevail?
Last week in Israel it was deja vu all over again. The killing of innocents. Attacks on buses random attacks. Just kill anybody you can. And if a couple of Israeli soldiers get killed in the process, so much the better. That was the message from the Sinai Peninsula, which, need we remind Egypt, Israel returned to Egyptian sovereignty in 1982.
Egypt cannot have it both ways: demanding the Sinai, yet forswearing responsibility for what goes on there. If Egypt wishes to disclaim responsibility for terrorist attacks against Israel plotted in the Sinai, or executed from the Sinai, Israel, no doubt, would be happy to relieve Egyptian of the burden of ruling this oil-rich territory.
Plotted or processed, we say, in the Sinai and carried out with the aid of Hamas in Gaza. This is the preferred route: Get the guns or the plans going in or from the Sinai, and in or from Gaza, then proceed to attack Israel. Hamas is part and parcel of these murderous, unjustified, inhumane acts of war against Israel.
Israel will need to respond in order to defend itself and to send the message to the terrorists that their lives, and the lives of their accessories in Gaza, are not safe. Israel is being asked to respond in a way that does not endanger the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. Wrong address. Let the State Dept. and the EU not ask Israel to be restrained in its response to terrorism; let these parties ask Egypt to reign in the terrorists who plot against Israel in or from the Sinai Egyptian territory.
True, for its own purposes, Israel will try to strike the balance between fighting terrorism as if there were no peace treaty with Egypt, and between sustaining the peace with Egypt as if there were no terrorism emanating from Egypt. Israel will try but Israel may fail. It is a tall order to attack terrorists in Egypt and still keep the Egyptian rulers happy. If Israel fails, let it be stated clearly and loudly where the fault lies: with the perpetrator, not with the victim.
With the terrorists, not with the dead.
With the rulers in Egypt, not with the defenders in Israel.
The Arab spring in Egypt is anything but. Egypt, for all intents and purposes, is now under a military dictatorship. The only difference from the old Mubarak regime is that the dictator is now a collective, rather than one man. Egypt has shown no inclination to establish order in the Sinai Peninsula. It is the wild West criminals and gunmen and smugglers having a field day. Right now, the immediate object of the anarchy there is Israel. But it is in the nature of anarchy to strike anywhere against anyone including the current military regime in Egypt. If for its own interests alone, one would think that Egypt, not less than Israel, would want to tame the Sinai.
Meanwhile, Israel buries its dead.
Lives cut sort.
Hopes shattered.
Families with gaping holes, never to be filled.
More Jew hatred.
The sense of isolation, increased once again.
Feelings, hardened.
This is no spring. It is precisely what was to be avoided when Egyptian peacemaker Anwar Sadat famously said, No more war.
For the good of Egyptians and Israelis alike, the current leadershp in Egypt should take heed.
Copyright © 2011 by the Intermountain Jewish News
