Hebrew Newspaper: Sisi No Longer Hides Egypt's Relations With 'Israel'

A Hebrew newspaper said that the security and military relations with the President of the Egyptian regime, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi arose because of the interests between the two countries, and the historical changes that are taking place in the Middle East.

Israel Today newspaper said that “above all, there is an Egyptian willingness to not hide relations with Israel as in the past. It is a change that should be welcomed and also used to direct the relationship to the right frameworks.”

 

Future Surprises

The newspaper pointed out that the Israeli-Egyptian Military Liaison Committee, which was formed under the peace agreement, met on November 8, 2021, as part of the meetings that are held twice a year.

As the committee meets alternately every six months, once in Israel and another in Egypt, this forum, which is held between both parties, raises common military and security issues, according to the newspaper.

According to the same source, during the traditional dinner, which is held in the homes of ambassadors, opinions are exchanged on political issues.

Meetings are always held in a good atmosphere, with clear cooperation and according to secret rules, "and the Israeli accepted, during the meeting in Cairo, the Egyptian request to increase the Egyptian military force in Sinai to fight terrorism," according to the newspaper.

It continued to say that “after many years of fighting terrorism, Egypt is still far from controlling it in its territory, and more than a year ago President of the Egyptian regime Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced publicly that there are now about 20,000 Egyptian soldiers in Sinai.”

The Hebrew newspaper believes that the Egyptians’ request for now will likely increase their numbers near the border.

"The entry of Egyptian soldiers near the border, before and after, contradicts the military annex to the peace agreement that limits the number of Egyptian soldiers and types of weapons between the Suez Canal and the border with Israel."

The newspaper added that “the number of soldiers was increased at the request of Egypt and with the full approval of Israel. The good relations between the two countries made this possible."

It continues to explain that “a few years ago, the former president Mohamed Mursi took power in Egypt and seriously thought about cancelling the peace agreement. If he succeeded, the Israeli would have stayed with the Egyptian soldiers on its borders, and everyone is pleased that this did not happen."

 

Time of Desire

The newspaper said that “for many years, there was a gap with Egypt between good and weak security relations in the bilateral field, trade, tourism, culture, business and others, which were almost non-existent.”

In the field of public bilateral relations, Sisi faces obstacles that are difficult to overcome, and this requires time and patience to change this, according to the same source.

It pointed out that "the trade unions, public hostility and the unscrupulous media prevent the development of open bilateral relations with Israel in public”

It believes that “this is the right moment to develop relations, and the Israeli must look for an area where Sisi's hand is freer."

The newspaper says that Egypt has long since not allowed former regime president Anwar Sadat to allow Israeli diplomatic representatives to develop direct contact with the Egyptian leadership.

On the other hand, the doors of Israel are wide open for Egyptian diplomats, according to Israel Today.

The newspaper's political analyst, Itzhak Levanon, pointed out that now there is a desire to develop relations between the two sides, "since Israeli agreed for the second time to increase the Egyptian military force in the Sinai at the request of Sisi."

He indicated that Israeli “are taking risks, but carefully, they should feel comfortable and request the removal of the communication restrictions for our ambassador in Cairo, and they should ask Cairo to allow diplomatic staff to conduct direct contacts with senior Egyptian officials.”

He considered that "such a directive is subject to the authority of al-Sisi, which is an administrative matter rather than a political request, and at this stage it is possible to instruct the Egyptian ministers that there is no limit to meeting the Israeli ambassador, Amira Oron, for work purposes.”

 

Waiting for a Reply

In a related context, the newspaper pointed out that senior Egyptian sources confirmed that the new Shin Bet chief, Ronen Bar, and the head of the National Security Council, Eyal Hulata, arrived in Egypt and met their counterparts.

The two met with Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel and discussed with him the issue of settlements in the West Bank and the deal of Israeli prisoners and missing persons with the Islamic resistance movement Hamas.

According to a senior Egyptian official, the issues raised by Egyptian and Israeli officials mainly dealt with the continued strengthening of security and intelligence cooperation between Israel and Egypt, so is the issue of rehabilitating the Gaza Strip and arranging matters there, regardless of the indirect contacts between Israel and Hamas conducted by Egyptian mediators.

The senior Egyptian source indicated that despite the recent intensive contacts and reports of significant progress, the possibility of reaching a deal between Israel and Hamas is not in sight.

“It cannot be said at the present time that there is a fundamental change in the parties' position regarding progress towards a prisoner deal in the near future,” he added.

Israel Hayom pointed out that the Qatari newspaper The New Arab reported that Abbas Kamel “will arrive in Israel within about two weeks to present to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett the basic plan for the prisoner exchange process.”