Headlines, Human Rights, Middle East & North Africa

MIDEAST: Egypt ‘Not Bound’ by Anti-Smuggling Pact

Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani

CAIRO, Jan 23 2009 (IPS) - The U.S. and Israel signed a memorandum of understanding last week ostensibly aimed at combating arms smuggling into the Gaza Strip. Egypt, however, which shares a 14-kilometre border with the embattled territory, rejected the accord as an infringement on its national sovereignty.

“Egypt was not even a signatory to this document,” Tarek Fahmi, political science professor at Cairo University and head of the Israel desk at the Cairo-based National Centre for Middle East Studies, told IPS. “Egypt is not obliged to follow security procedures arranged behind its back.”

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) outlines general procedures aimed at stopping weapons smuggling into the Gaza Strip. The strip, governed by Palestinian resistance faction Hamas since 2007, was recently the target of a devastating, three-week-long Israeli military campaign that ended Jan. 17.

Signed in Washington by outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, the accord notes that “securing Gaza’s border is indispensable to realising a durable and sustainable end to fighting in Gaza.” With this stated aim, the document commits Washington to “accelerate its efforts to provide logistical and technical assistance and to train and equip regional security forces in counter-smuggling tactics.”

Unsurprisingly, the document contains several expressions of U.S. support for Israel and the self-proclaimed Jewish state’s vaunted right to “self-defence”. After establishing “the steadfast commitment of the U.S. to Israel’s security,” the accord states that “the acquisition and use of arms and related material by terrorists against Israel” represented “the direct causes of recent hostilities.”

Israeli officials later claimed the agreement had prompted their decision to declare a unilateral ceasefire in the Gaza Strip the next day, which brought Israel’s war on the territory – in which more than 1300 Palestinians were reported killed – to a temporary halt.

Egypt, however, which is currently trying to mediate a permanent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, quickly rejected the MoU.

The U.S. and Israel can “do what they wish with regard to the sea or any other country in Africa,” Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul-Gheit told reporters Jan. 17. “But when it comes to Egyptian land, we are not bound by anything except the safety and national security of the Egyptian people and Egypt’s ability to protect its borders.”

Aboul-Gheit challenged longstanding Israeli claims that weapons were brought en masse from Egypt to Gaza via a network of underground ‘smuggling tunnels’. Most arms bound for the Palestinian resistance in Gaza, he added, entered the Hamas-run coastal enclave by sea.

Local commentators agreed that Israel’s frequent smuggling allegations were overstated.

“The Israelis constantly make these claims,” said Fahmi. “But they are never accompanied by credible evidence, which – if it existed – would have been presented to the international media.”

Gamal Mazloum, former Egyptian army general and expert on military affairs, also refuted Israeli accusations that Egypt was “not doing enough” to police its border.

“Egypt works against arms smuggling to Gaza, as was evident during the recent crisis,” Mazloum told IPS. “A heavily-armed Gaza isn’t in Egypt’s interest. Egypt wants to avert escalations there, both between Palestinian factions and between the Palestinians and Israel.”

Mazloum agreed with the foreign minister’s statement that most weapons smuggled into the Gaza Strip came by sea.

According to Fahmi, any new security arrangement on the border would require formal changes to the 1979 Egypt-Israel Camp David peace agreement. “But in the past, when Egypt wanted to modify the agreement to allow it to increase its border forces, Israel has adamantly refused,” he said.

The Camp David protocols stipulate that Egypt can deploy no more than 750 border police on its borders with Israel and the Gaza Strip.

“Also, while the MoU mentions joint U.S.-Israel security procedures to stop smuggling, it’s not clear where these procedures will take place,” Fahmi added. “This document could potentially end up granting Israel access to sensitive U.S. intelligence on Washington’s Arab allies.”

The agreement did not expressly call for the stationing of international monitors on Egypt’s border with the Gaza Strip. But according to media reports, Turkey, along with a handful of EU member states, has already volunteered to contribute to such a monitoring force if the need arises.

On Jan. 17, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak reiterated Egypt’s refusal of “any foreign presence or monitors” on Egyptian territory. “This is a red line that no one will be allowed to cross,” he said in a televised speech.

Mazloum supported Mubarak’s uncompromising position, pointing out that Egypt “has already proven its good intentions” by expressing readiness to train its security personnel – in Egypt or abroad – to search for subterranean smuggling tunnels.

“But Egypt categorically rejects the deployment of international forces on its territory, which would represent a violation of Egypt’s national sovereignty,” he said. “What’s more, we don’t know if these forces have a hidden agenda or are carrying out espionage activities against Egypt.”

On Friday (Jan. 23), satellite news channel Al-Jazeera reported that Israeli officials had agreed with Egyptian counterparts on new border security procedures. Although details remain vague, Israeli daily Ha’aretz reported on the same day that Israeli officials were “reconsidering” Egypt’s request to increase the size of its police force along the Gaza border.

According to a “senior Israeli political source” quoted by Ha’aretz, the number of Egyptian police on the border with Gaza could be tripled to reach a total of 2,250. But it remains unclear, the newspaper added, whether new border procedures would entail an amendment of the Camp David protocols or would merely represent a “tacit agreement” between the two countries.