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Israel Shaken as Turbulence Rocks an Ally

(New York Times) Ethan Bronner - Israel's military planning relies on peace with Egypt; nearly half the natural gas it uses is imported from Egypt; and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has met with President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt more than with any other foreign leader, except President Obama. "For the United States, Egypt is the keystone of its Middle East policy," a senior Israeli official said. "For Israel, it's the whole arch." Israelis worry that a successful overthrow in Egypt could spread to Jordan. And if the Muslim Brotherhood were to gain power in Egypt, that would probably mean not only a stronger Islamist force in Gaza but also in the West Bank, as well as in Jordan, meaning Israel would feel surrounded in a way it has not in decades. If Egypt also turned unfriendly, that would quite likely stop in its tracks any further Israeli talk of peace negotiations with the Palestinians, officials and analysts said. There has long been concern that popular sentiment in Egypt is anti-Israel. Eli Shaked, a former Israeli ambassador to Cairo, wrote in Yediot Ahronot, "The only people in Egypt who are committed to peace are the people in Mubarak's inner circle, and if the next president is not one of them, we are going to be in trouble." Giora Eiland, a former national security adviser and a senior fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, said even if Egypt did not cancel its peace treaty with Israel tomorrow or in five years, a government dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood would mean "you can't exclude the possibility of a war with Egypt."
2011-01-31 11:32:10
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