Egypt's new diplomacy worries Washington
By brokering a unity deal between Palestinian factions, Egypt's interim
government has raised ire from US politicians.
Jim Lobe Last Modified: 05 May 2011 09:33
Some US commentators warn that Egypt's new diplomacy, including warming
relations with Iran and a more assertive position on Palestine, represents an
'unsettling preview' of what could emerge from the Arab Spring [Reuters]
With US lawmakers threatening this week to cut aid to Pakistan over its alleged
harbouring of the late Osama bin Laden, concern is growing steadily here over
the future of ties with another key predominantly Muslim ally heavily dependent
on US aid: Egypt.
Washington has supplied an average of two billion dollars a year about
two-thirds of which have gone to the Egyptian military since Cairo signed the
Camp David Accords with Israel in 1979.
It has also encouraged other countries and international financial institutions
to be generous in dealing with Egypt, whose de facto - if often sour -
acquiescence under former President Hosni Mubarak in Israel's more
controversial actions against its other neighbours and the Palestinians was
considered indispensable to maintaining an acceptable status quo.
But the foreign policy independence displayed by the new regime since Mubarak
was swept from power nearly three months ago has elicited nervous reactions
from key sectors here, particularly in Congress, where the influence of the
so-called "Israel lobby" is especially strong.
The most recent action was Egypt's mediation of the reconciliation agreement
signed Wednesday in Cairo by the leaders of Hamas and Fatah, an agreement that
has been strongly denounced by leading lawmakers, as well as by the
administration of President Barack Obama itself.
House Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and the
Committee's ranking Democrat, Howard Berman, have already said that all US aid
will be cut off to any government that includes Hamas unless it agrees to
renounce violence, recognise Israel's right to exist, and uphold all previous
agreements signed by the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).
An 'unsettling preview'
And while Congressional leaders have not yet rallied behind such a far-reaching
sanction against Egypt itself, the idea of threatening to slash aid to Egypt's
powerful military as leverage to rein in Cairo's newfound independence has been
quickly gaining currency in recent weeks on Capitol Hill.
"If Cairo's desire for a more 'independent' foreign policy translates into
warmer ties with terrorists, America's own long-standing support for the
Egyptian military may eventually need to be reconsidered," wrote the
neo-conservative Wall Street Journal Tuesday in an editorial that called
Egypt's latest moves "an unsettling preview of what could emerge" from the
so-called "Arab Spring".
The growing unease began shortly after Mubarak's ouster when Egypt permitted
Iranian warships to sail through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean, an
action which Israel and its supporters here insisted was unprecedented since
the 1979 Islamic Revolution when ties between the two Middle Eastern giants
were effectively frozen.
But under new foreign minister Nabil Elaraby, Egypt's assertion of independence
from both Israel and the United States has gained speed, even as he has
repeatedly insisted that Cairo has no intention of renouncing the Camp David
Accords.
Early last month, Elaraby announced after a rare meeting with a high- ranking
Iranian diplomat that the two countries had "opened a new page".
Since then, Cairo has made clear that it intends to normalise relations with
Tehran, a development that would mark a serious setback to U.S. and Israeli
efforts to both isolate the Islamic Republic and forge a de facto alliance
between Israel, Egypt and the Sunni-led monarchies of Jordan and the Gulf
against Iran.
"All the world has diplomatic relations with Iran with the exception of the
United States and Israel," Elaraby's spokesperson, Menha Bakhoum, told the New
York Times last week. "We look at Iran as a neighbour in the region that we
should have normal relations with."
At the same time, the foreign minister confirmed in an interview with Al
Jazeera what had been rumoured for weeks - that Egypt would within days open
the Rafah border crossing to Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas, a development
that will effectively end a five-year Israeli blockade that Mubarak helped
enforce.
Under the new regime, Cairo has also embraced the drive by the Palestinian
Authority (PA) to gain recognition of a unified Palestinian state by the UN
General Assembly in September and has reportedly urged Washington to do the
same.
The Obama administration, however, has indicated that it strongly opposes the
effort, insisting that such a move will undermine the "peace process", which,
in any event, was effectively suspended last September. With Western European
powers reportedly leaning in favour of the initiative, it appears unlikely that
Washington can stop it.
Popular independence
All of the steps taken by the new regime appear designed to bring Egyptian
foreign policy more in line with popular opinion which, according to public
opinion polls, particularly since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, have shown
significant opposition to US policies in the region and hostility toward
Israel, in particular.
In the latest poll released last week by the Pew Research Center, 54 per cent
of respondents said they favoured annulling the Camp David treaty with Israel,
although 36 per cent said they thought it should be retained.
A plurality of 43 per cent said they would prefer a more distant relationship
with the US than that in recent years. The same survey showed strong support
for the former Arab League chairman and likely presidential candidate, Amr
Moussa, who has favoured greater independence from US foreign policy.
With Congress already in a penny-pinching mood on foreign aid, many observers
believe cuts in future assistance are inevitable if Egypt's current trajectory
continues.
Even before the negotiation of the controversial Palestinian reconciliation
accord, lawmakers showed little interest in granting urgent requests by Egypt's
new government for $3.3bn in debt relief that would save the country about
$350m in annual debt payments or even for a proposed $50m enterprise fund to
attract foreign investment.
"We have to have as full a picture as we possibly can get before we do this,
knowing we're in a transition period," the Republican chairwoman of the
powerful House Foreign Operations Subcommittee, Texas Rep. Kay Granger, told
the Congressional Quarterly.
The publication suggested that it was unlikely that Cairo would even get its
usual annual allotment of $250m dollars in economic aid this year despite a
struggling economy - due in part to a drastic decline in tourism - and the risk
that economic hardship could radicalise a newly-empowered electorate.
At least one astute observer predicted much will depend on Israel's attitude.
"The reason Egypt has gotten money is because the Israelis and AIPAC (American
Israel Public Affairs Committee) lobbied for it," said Dov Zakheim, a former
senior Pentagon official in the George W. Bush administration, at a conference
Tuesday at the Center for the National Interest. "If the Israelis are not
enthusiastic, that will just reinforce Congress' reluctance
then you're not
going to see much (aid)."
A version of this article first appeared on Inter Press service news agency.
Source:
IPS
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