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Tal Cohen
Eitan Haber
Tal Cohen

Thank you, Egypt

Egyptian tourists stay away from Tel Aviv, but peace deal still a great bargain

The Egyptian bus that took us from the international airport to the hotel across the pyramids traveled from one end of Cairo to the other. Thousands of people were standing on the streets. Many of them were applauding and waving. We, the first group of Israeli journalists to ever set foot in Cairo, put our faces against the windows and could not look away from the people, houses, and streets. It was a sight never seen before: “The first Israelis in Cairo.”

 

“You know why the Egyptians on the streets are applauding us?” I asked loudly, in an attempt to break the tension on the bus. “Because they think we’re Israeli captives.” Some people laughed; most just kept on gazing at the world outside the bus: A new world was revealed to us.

 

My bad joke during those emotional moments attested, back then already, to our lack of faith in Egypt, in President Sadat, in peace. Four years after the Yom Kippur War and after we lost 2,700 soldiers, asking us to believe in peace was an exaggerated demand.

 

This week, which marks 30 years to President Sadat’s historic and dramatic visit in Jerusalem, there are still many Israelis, considered educated and knowledgeable, who ask: Well, what did we get out of this peace deal? And again they mutter about the Egyptian tourists that are not coming to Tel Aviv’s pubs. And of course, the Egyptian hostility. You call this peace? Come on.

 

The desire to be loved drives many Israelis crazy. If Mubarak, or Sarkozy, or Bush, or any other leader, does not profess his endless love for Israel, we immediately cross them out: They’re Israel haters; anti-Semites.

 

Well, Egyptians, generally speaking, do not love Israel (and we should be asking whether we love them) and do not flood Tel Aviv’s beaches, also because they do not travel much and have nothing that draws them to Tel Aviv. What can we do, they don’t have backpackers.

 

No war casualties for 30 years

It should be noted again: The Egyptians don’t love us, and I guess they have several reasons for that (wars, casualties, the ruined Egyptian economy as a result of the war, the unending Palestinian problem.) So what?

 

In a country that on average fought Egypt every 10 years or so (1948, 1956, 1967, 1973) there have been no casualties on our side for 30 years now (and no casualties on their side either.) About 30 Israelis were killed in terror acts, not by the Egyptian government. Or in other words: Thousands of Israelis (and Egyptians, of course) who are alive and well at this very moment, breathing and eating and working and having fun, owe their lives to Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin. Thousands of others (at least 6,000 on the Israeli side) were not so fortunate and today they lie under headstones at military cemeteries.

 

Here’s just one small question: What would we do if there was no peace with Egypt, and those despicable Egyptians would move large forces into the Sinai desert, say every three months? Not shooting, not even getting close to Israel’s border, merely moving into this desert with two armored divisions. What would we do? We would embark on another war, or we would keep on calling up our reserve divisions. How long could we keep going like that, with the economy and home front suffering?

 

Perhaps someone can explain to me how we can fight Egypt while at the same time dealing with terror attacks in the territories, and Hizbullah that won’t go silent in Lebanon, and Syria, even if it only moved one armored division 20 kilometers? (Another question, and a highly important one, is the Egyptian rearmament effort that Knesset Member Yuval Steinitz has been warning about. This is a matter for some serious thoughts.)

 

The bottom line: The Egyptians don’t love us and are not coming to Tel Aviv, and still, we’re very satisfied. Thank you Egypt, for this flawed peace agreement. Thank you.

 


פרסום ראשון: 11.19.07, 10:18
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