Egypt has long been responsible for the collective punishment of Palestinians while feigning sympathy.
Our path to Palestine will not be covered with a red carpet or with yellow sand. Our path to Palestine will be covered with blood… In order that we may liberate Palestine, the Arab nation must unite, the Arab armies must unite, and a unified plan of action must be established. Gamal Abdul Nasser 1965
Egypt’s pivotal role as an ally and supporter of the Palestinian cause degraded dramatically after the suspected assassination of President Gamal Abdul Nasser in 1967 when Nasser was only 52 and known to be in excellent health.
Nasser was succeeded by Anwar Sadat who deceived and betrayed Syria during the 1973 October war or the Yom Kippur war as Zionists have named it. Sadat developed a close relationship with war criminal Henry Kissinger which proved deadly for the nationalist movements in the region who opposed normalisation with the genocidal Zionist entity and supported the central Palestinian cause.
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Kissinger astutely perceived Sadat as someone who could be persuaded to capitulate to Israeli ‘peace’ demands which he did in 1979 with the Camp David agreement.
Camp David was considered a betrayal of the Palestinian Resistance liberation movement and of the legitimate claims of neighbouring states to their land and sovereignty.
In May 2000 Kissinger wrote about Sadat:
He did me the honor of inviting me to fly with him to New York from Washington–we had concluded his trip. And he said to me, “you know, next March the Sinai is coming back to us. It’s going to be a big celebration. And since you and I started this, you should come to Egypt and celebrate with us.”
Then he thought for a moment and he said “no, you’re Jewish. It is very painful for the Israelis to give up this territory. And if they see you in Cairo celebrating with us, they’ll be very hurt and we mustn’t do this to them. I have a better idea,” he said. “Let the territory come back. And then, a month later, you and I alone will take a trip through the Sinai and we’ll go to the top of Mt. Sinai where I intend to build a synagogue, a mosque, and a church. And this will be a more meaningful celebration of the peace process than if you come to Cairo.”
In 1973 Kissinger and President Hafez Al Assad met – the first high level meeting between the US and Syria for years. After Kissinger had been speaking for just under and hour, Assad interrupted him and asked if it was his turn to speak.
As a professor you have spoken for fifty minutes. The President was an officer and officers are brief. As a military man, I take the place of politicians; professors take the place of politicians.
Assad continued:
First, we are not or never have been against the people of the United States. I have said this many times and in many places. There is much convincing evidence that we have to be against U.S. policy because it is against Syrian interests and Syrian just aspirations. Had it not been for U.S. assistance in support of Israel, Israel could not remain in occupation and forced out the Palestinians from their lands since 1948 but we are not against the United States as a country or a people.
Secondly, our policy is decided in light of our national interests. We want to build our line in a completely independent way. Syria is non-aligned. It is an effective member of the non-aligned group and a member of the Bureau. It cannot be diverted, because it has deep convictions.
[…]
…there can be no peace with justice unless the Arab Palestinian question is settled. The Arab people of Palestine were driven out by force and are now living in camps. How can there be peace without settling their problem?
On the Zionist occupation of Syrian Golan, Assad said:
If we are to suppose there are such secure borders, history shows we are in the need of secure borders if anyone. Why should secure borders be at the expense of Syria? Let secure borders be at Galilee if anywhere. Under what logic should secure borders be at the expense of the population of Golan? Why should the line of danger be closer to Damascus than Tel Aviv? The distance from the ‘67 border to Damascus is 80 kilometers; the distance from the ‘67 border to Tel Aviv is 135 kilometers. So why should they want secure borders? If the idea behind it is to keep danger away from both capitals, why not?
Syria and Egypt depend upon unity for their national security. Presidents Nasser and Hafez Al Assad understood this concept. It is no coincidence that Britain created the settler state of Israel in Palestine to drive these two countries apart geographically, politically, economically and ultimately ideologically.
My dream was realised in the Orient as it almost turned into a nightmare in the Occident. I have spent the best years of my life in Egypt. In Europe the clouds do not allow you to think of the projects that change the course of history whereas in Egypt, whoever rules it is capable of changing history. If I were not ruler of Egypt, I would not have become Emperor of France. (Attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte)
Fast forward to 2024 and Egypt’s state-role in the humanitarian blockade and Zionist genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied territories.
I have collated the following reasons why and how Egypt has relinquished its role as a principal loyalist to the Palestinian national liberation movements.
1: Egypt is on economic life-support provided by the US, EU, IMF, Saudi Arabia and UAE and is reliant on good relations with Israel
For decades Egypt has been kept afloat economically with multi-billion loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and US allies among the Gulf States.
At the end of March 2024 the IMF approved Egypt’s loan program which was duly expanded to $ 8 billion. Concurrently the EU has approved a Euros 7.4 billion “assistance” package to revive Egypt’s flatlined economy. Analysts have linked Egypt’s loan packages to the Zionist ongoing genocide in Palestine.
Egypt is adamant that they are opposed to a Palestinian exodus from Gaza into the Sinai but IMF messaging suggests otherwise:
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says there is “excellent progress” in talks with Egypt over a loan program that seeks to “support” the country in weathering its financial woes and handling a potential deluge of Palestinian refugees that Israel seeks to ethnically cleanse from Gaza.
Reports of Egypt constructing an enclosure for Palestinian refugees have been circulating since October 7th, gathering traction in February 2024 when satellite images showed an area of land just the other side of the Egyptian Rafah crossing being cleared for construction. Egypt denied any such intentions, claiming that they were preparing an area for the storage of humanitarian aid – aid that has not entered Gaza since 7th October.
However according to IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva in November 2023:
“The loan could reach up to $10 billion to help the Egyptian economy survive amid local and external factors, including the Israeli onslaught on the neighboring Gaza Strip and tensions in the Red Sea…
This coincided with the start of construction work on an “isolated security zone” in the eastern Sinai Desert on the border with the Gaza Strip, which many expect will serve as a buffer zone for displaced Palestinians.
“The construction work seen in Sinai along the border with Gaza – the establishment of a reinforced security perimeter around a specific, open area of land – are serious signs that Egypt may be preparing to accept and allow the displacement of Gazans to Sinai, in coordination with Israel and the United States.”
In October 2023 – as Israel’s brutal military assault on Gaza continued unabated, reports continued to swirl about a big Egyptian trade-off in the works: the absorption of large numbers of displaced Palestinians from the Strip in exchange for easing Cairo’s massive debt load – which surpasses $160 billion.
Since these rumours of Egypt providing a secondary open air compound for forcibly displaced Palestinians, there have been recent reports of the US “humanitarian” pier being used to ferry Palestinian from Gaza to northern Lebanon, Cyprus and other destinations. Sources within the Resistance in Gaza told Mondoweiss:
“The floating pier project is an American solution to the displacement dilemma in Gaza,” the source said. “It goes beyond both the Israeli solution of displacing Gazans into Sinai…and the Egyptian suggestion of displacing [Gazans] into the Naqab [desert].”
This should not detract from Egypt being mired in debt to the friends of Israel and enemies of Palestine nor from its role in blockading Gaza and tacitly collaborating with Israel in the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.
In March the European Union also pledged 7.4 billion Euros to the economically floundering Egyptian regime. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni travelled to Cairo alongside EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the Greek, Austrian and Belgian prime ministers, and the Cypriot president. All these countries have a vested interest in getting someone else to take on the potential tsunami of a Palestinian refugee crisis.
Ostensibly the investment and concessional loans are designed to boost cooperation in areas including renewable energy, trade and security, while delivering grants, loans and other funding over the next three years to support Egypt’s faltering economy.
The proposed funding includes 5 billion euros in concessional loans and 1.8 billion euros of investments, according to a summary published by the EU. Another 600 million euros would be provided in grants, including 200 million euros for managing migration. (Reuters)
The United Arab Emirates, a former British protectorate, normalised relations with Israel in 2020 under the Abraham Accords concocted by the Trump administration to bring Arab states into the Greater Israel/Clean Break plan.
In early May, Egypt received the second installment of funding, worth $ 20 billion, from the Ras Al Hekma deal with the UAE intended to develop the luxury Ras Al Hekma resort on the Mediterranean Sea.
Cairo had already received $ 5 billion from the UAE deal.
Egypt is also looking to close a similar deal with Saudi Arabian investors to enable elite coastal developments on the Red Sea coast near Sharm El Sheikh, including the Ras Ghamila resort. This is in combination with the Saudi futuristic Neom project that is seeking to expand into the Egyptian Sinai.
In 2018 – Saudi Arabia signed an investment agreement with Egypt to develop Egyptian lands in south Sinai to become part of a planned mega-city and business zone unveiled by Saudi Arabia last October. The two countries established a $ 10 billion joint investment fund.
Reuters reported a Saudi official as saying that Egypt has committed more than 1,000 square kilometers of land in the southern Sinai Peninsula to the NEOM project.
Saudi Arabia is in negotiations with the US over bilateral defence pacts while allegedly delaying normalisation with Israel dependent on the establishment of a Palestinian state on the scraps of land and rubble left intact in the ever-dwindling Palestinian zones in the Occupied Territories and Gaza.
Concurrently the Saudi regime is cracking down on pro-Palestine protests in the ‘kingdom’ and has allegedly begun removing negative portrayal of Israel from its school curriculum, as has the UAE.
In October 2023 journalist Mohamad Hasan Sweidan noted:
It seems clear that Riyadh decided, from the beginning of the Gaza war, to prepare the internal environment for the post-Gaza phase, that is, the phase of normalization and settlement. Saudi Arabia insisted on not postponing any festival or celebration, prevented participating artists from showing sympathy for the Palestinians, punished those who sympathized with the martyrs of Gaza from a Saudi platform, and even banned the wearing of the Palestinian Kufiyyeh at Mawsim al-Riyadh, a state-funded annual festival.
Bahrain has been actively investing in Egypt, driven by a mutual need for economic cooperation and diversification. The country has been seeking to revive its fortunes through a recently discovered oilfield and plans to become a regional financial hub. Bahrain normalised with Israel in December 2020.
UAE and Bahrain were involved in providing a land bridge for Israel during the Zionist genocide in Gaza and West Bank and to counter the Yemeni blockade of the Red Sea shipping routes.
Egypt leveraged the perceived threat of an overwhelming refugee crisis as a result of the Zionist genocide to secure the IMF and EU loans and to float the faltering economy. Egypt is now in bed with Gulf States, Jordan and even Israel at the expense of the Palestinian cause – Egypt’s impotence has been further demonstrated by the lack of any military deterrence when faced with the Zionist invasion of Rafah and the shooting of an Egyptian soldier at the border.
Journalist Mohamad Sweidan points out:
Closing the file on the Palestinian cause and forging ties with Tel Aviv is an ambition the Saudis share with the UAE in pursuit of economic and political gains. Despite official Arab declarations rebuffing displacement plans, behind-the-scenes maneuvers suggest a different reality, one that veers towards the gradual dissolution of the Palestinian cause.
Egypt’s sovereignty is in question when one considers the following information:
Riyadh’s sudden eagerness to bolster economic ties with Cairo is palpable. With unprecedented directives from both governments, mutual investments are set to soar, with Saudi Arabia aiming to ramp up trade to $100 billion.
Recent collaborations include a $4 billion deal with Saudi-listed ACWA Power for the Green Hydrogen project. Moreover, strategic initiatives like the memorandum of understanding between the Egyptian Ministry of Military Production and the Saudi General Authority for Military Industries and agreements in petroleum and mineral resources signal deepening economic integration.
Ongoing negotiations between Cairo and Abu Dhabi to develop a substantial tract of land along Egypt’s Mediterranean coast, potentially valued at $22 billion, could be a game-changer for Egypt’s beleaguered economy.
According to the CBE report, the proposed contract’s value encompasses a significant portion of the Egyptian government’s external debt due in 2024, totaling $29.229 billion. This includes interest payments totaling $6.312 billion and debt installments amounting to $22.917 billion.
History repeats itself – in 1991, Washington forgave Egypt’s debt in return for its support of the US-led coalition against Iraq.
Only the NATO-proxy failed state of Ukraine has a debt higher than Egypt’s national debt. Let that sink in.
It is difficult to consider Egypt an honest broker in the Hamas-Israel negotiations. The fate of Palestinians is effectively (from a Western perspective) in the hands of nations that have already acquiesced to recognition and approval of the Zionist entity. Egypt is indebted to every single one of those countries and to their controlling interests in the UK, EU and US. Extrication from such a position is virtually impossible.
In part 2 I will look at Egypt’s covert cooperation and collaboration with Israel via non-state actors with close ties to the Sisi regime. I will also cover the decades-long Egyptian blockade of Gaza and the treatment of Palestinians in the enclave by Egyptian security forces – something I have personally witnessed when trying to cross into Gaza via the Rafah border crossing.
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Part 2
Sisi has placed Egypt in a position of political and military paralysis – destroying Egypt’s sovereignty in the process.
In Part One I covered Egypt’s debt quagmire that has reduced its ability to act as a sovereign nation, indebted to the Western neocolonialist cartel and their Arab State allies in the region.
Source: Central Bank of Egypt
In Part Two I want to delve into the Sinai Peninsula destabilisation and Egypt’s flourishing military and economic collaboration with Israel.
The Sinai Islamist insurgency (an ISIS offshoot branded Wilayat Sinai or Sinai Province – SP) began at the same time as the Western-orchestrated “Arab Springs” were launched across the region but in particular, in Egypt and Syria.
The campaign “Operation Eagle” began in 2011 following an increase in alleged Islamist militant activities in the Peninsula. Approximately 1000 troops and hundreds of armored personnel carriers were deployed.
This represented the first major deployment of Egyptian troops in Sinai since the end of the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, thus marking a substantial change in the military and security situation in Sinai.
I personally remember trying to cross the Sinai in August 2012 for my first attempt at entering Gaza. Fifteen Egyptian soldiers were killed at the Rafah border during Ramadan by unknown gunmen and the entire area was shut down while Egyptian military scoured the desert for the killers. Entry to Gaza was denied, even to Palestinians.
The recently “elected” Muslim Brotherhood President Morsi ordered full military control of the Sinai. Gaza was put on devastating lockdown with Morsi flooding the lifeline tunnels between Gaza Rafah and Egyptian Rafah with sewage water. This was done under the pretext of preventing the “flow of weapons” from Hamas to the Islamists in the Sinai – despite the fact that Hamas and ISIS have not been considered allies although their agendas may have some cross-over, as in Syria.
At the same time Morsi was effectively exporting terrorist (Muslim Brotherhood) forces to fight alongside Al Qaeda in the Western-sponsored regime change war in Syria. As reported by the Washington Institute:
In May 2013, for example, Qatar-based cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi — a major Brotherhood ideological influence — called on Sunnis to join the fight in Syria. The next month, then-President Morsi’s office announced that Egyptians returning from the fight in Syria would not be prosecuted, and Mr. Morsi later keynoted a rally at Cairo Stadium at which radical clerics endorsed the Syrian jihad.
After Sisi took control in Egypt, deposing Morsi in a violent military coup, reportedly supported by Israel – the radicalisation of Muslim Brotherhood factions in Egypt increased as did the exodus to fight in Syria.
In 2022 Arab Center DC reported that:
Over the past decade, Sinai has been the epicenter of terrorist attacks in Egypt and the base from which Islamist militants wage their insurgency against the Egyptian government. Their assaults mainly target security forces, including military convoys, checkpoints, and facilities, and have mostly taken place in the cities of northern Sinai, particularly al-Arish, Sheikh Zuweid, and Rafah. However, as a result of Egyptian military operations, over the past few years SP’s activities have moved to the western part of North Sinai, notably to the city of Bir al-Abd, which in November 2017 witnessed one of the deadliest extremist attacks in Egypt’s history when SP militants stormed the al-Rawda Mosque, injuring 128 people and killing more than 300, including 27 children.
Under Sisi the military operations have achieved very little success in quelling the SP insurgency. Sisi has also been accused of human rights abuses in his “war on terror” with indiscriminate attacks that have led to the destruction of Bedouin homes and villages and the deaths of civilians during bombing campaigns and artillery bombardment.
From a Human Rights Watch report (Caveat – HRW is a tool of the US deep state and as such, the information must be considered in context with the direction of travel of Zionist and US agendas in the region)
Egyptian military and police have carried out systematic and widespread arbitrary arrests—including of children—enforced disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial killings, collective punishment, and forced evictions—abuses it has attempted to conceal through an effective ban on independent reporting. The military has also possibly conducted unlawful air and ground attacks that have killed numerous civilians—including children—and used civilian properties for military purposes. In addition, it has recruited, armed, and directed local militias, which have themselves engaged in serious rights violations, such as torture and arbitrary arrests, often exploiting their position to settle personal scores.
This failure to bring militants to justice fuels theories about the Sisi regime’s political interest in prolonging the conflict in Sinai, which may serve to secure domestic political support – war is always a way to retain power particularly when confronting turbulent domestic environments.
It could also have a more sinister purpose. We should always bear in mind that ISIS in Syria is a US alliance proxy as are the majority of terrorist groups globally, acting in the interests of the Zionist regime and neocolonialist adventurism in the West Asia region and further afield.
Strategic ties between Egypt and Israel have deepened under Sisi’s rule. Israel has allowed significant Egyptian military units and armaments to be deployed to the northeastern section of the Sinai Peninsula in contravention of the 1979 Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, which restricts the number of Egyptian personnel and armaments in this zone.
Egypt allegedly gave Israel permission to carry out drone strikes in the Sinai, officially targeting extremists which could have included Palestinian Resistance fighters. Israel carried out an estimated 100 strikes between 2015 and 2018, with the 2014 savage aggression against Gaza conducted during these operations.
When the New York Times exposed these operations in 2018 it described Egypt and Israel as secret allies in a covert war against a common foe. The Sisi regime issued vehement denials fearing a public backlash from a majority Egyptian population that has historically opposed the Zionist theft and occupation of Palestinian territory.
This information leak also led to a security blackout in the Sinai region which has provided cover for the Sisi regime human rights abuses including the razing of Egyptian Rafah homes and infrastructure and the displacement of thousands of Bedouin tribes.
In 2019 Sisi admitted to CBS ‘60 Minutes’ News program that relations were the closest they had ever been with Israel. From a Reuters report:
Asked whether the cooperation was the closest and deepest that he has had with Israel, Sisi responded: “That is correct.”
“The Air Force sometimes needs to cross to the Israeli side. And that’s why we have a wide range of coordination with the Israelis,”
The Egyptian regime also tried to kill this report, demanding that CBS not air the interview. The request was denied.
Both Egypt and Israel have cooperated in closing down tunnels connecting the Sinai to Gaza, which have been used to smuggle people and goods in both directions. Egypt has also kept the border crossing between Gaza and the Sinai closed for the most part, generally only opening it for certain periods to allow for medical and family visits.
Again, I have personally experienced the dehumanisation and collective humiliation of Palestinians by the Egyptian security forces at the Rafah border crossing. In August 2012 temperatures were in the mid 40s and the area outside the entrance gates to the border terminal had no shade. Buses were constantly arriving carrying more Palestinian families to the area.
Thousands of Palestinians were waiting at the gates to be processed and to return to Gaza. The gates remained closed from morning to night for three days forcing us to sleep in Al Arish which was known as a security risk especially for foreigners.
On the third day, with crowds of Palestinians packed into a small area outside the gates in sweltering temperatures and a cloudless sky – the Egyptians opened a tiny side gate forcing the Palestinian crowds to crush each other in an attempt to push through the gap. Egyptian guards yelled and pushed the scrambling people, treating them just as Zionists treat them in the apartheid Occupied Territories. This inhumane treatment did not improve in the passport processing terminal where Egyptian intelligence forces deliberately delayed the procedures and left Palestinians waiting for hours.
In May 2020, the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency traveled to Cairo to meet secretly with Egyptian officials, according to Israeli press reports. The meeting was supposedly geared to alerting Cairo about Netanyahu’s annexation plans for the West Bank – the plans were delayed but this serves to demonstrate the close intelligence and political ties between the two countries.
The natural gas field alliance
In 2021 Egypt’s Minister of Energy Tarek al-Molla traveled to Israel to meet with his Israeli counterpart, Yuval Steinitz, as well as with Prime Minister Netanyahu, to discuss a major collaborative project. From the ACDC report:
Gas from Palestine’s large offshore Leviathan field in the eastern Mediterranean would be transported via a new pipeline on the seabed to connect with liquefication facilities in Egypt. Currently, gas from the Leviathan field is being sent to Egypt via a pipeline that runs to the Sinai Peninsula. The goal of this new project, according to an Israeli official, would be to use these facilities to export gas to Europe, where demand is rising.
Undoubtedly, Israel sees this collaboration as a way of linking the Egyptian economy to Israel so that any future Egyptian leader would think twice about rolling back bilateral relations.
From Egypt’s perspective, this deal fits into its plans to become a major regional hub for natural gas. In 2015, a large gas field, called Zohr, was discovered in Egyptian territorial waters in the Mediterranean, and Egypt has been the force behind the establishment of the “East Mediterranean Gas Forum” which includes Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Italy, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority which is nothing more than a traitorous subordinate of the Zionist regime.
The tourism incentive
In early March 2021, Israeli Minister of Intelligence Eli Cohen met with Egypt’s Deputy Minister of Intelligence Nasser Fahmi in the coastal resort of Sharm el-Sheikh and said Egypt was doing “everything possible” to make the Sinai safe for Israeli tourists.
Interestingly, Cohen was reportedly accompanied by 60 Israeli officials and businesspeople, indicating that both countries hope to boost tourism in the coming years. (ACDC)
Again Egypt ensured scarce media coverage of the Cohen delegation. The risk of public backlash was still high with the Egyptian public sympathy consistently engrained in the Palestinian nationalist movement.
Cohen was cited as saying:
“Egypt is interested in promoting cooperation with Israel in all fields. We will continue to act to bolster economic and bilateral ties in the future.”
Polling in 2020 conducted by the respected Zogby Research Services found some interesting data on Egyptian public attitudes toward Israel and the Palestinian issue. The question “How important is it that there be a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?” revealed that 79 percent of Egyptians thought it was “very important”; 15 percent said “somewhat important”; and only 6 percent said “somewhat unimportant or not important at all.” Concerning the question about the possibility of Israeli annexation of large parts of the West Bank, 75 percent of Egyptians believe that cooperation with Israel should come to an end if that were to occur.
There are limits to how far Sisi can publicly go in collaborating with Israel and a more serious disconnect from the Arab Peace Initiative would incur domestic unrest. At the same time he must avoid any major confrontation with Israel to secure the strategic and economic projects that have ensured financial and political support from the Zionist lobby and supporters in the US. Sisi must also keep the US and EU on board to avoid prosecution for the human rights abuses conducted by his regime.
It should however come as no surprise that, since October 7th, the Sisi regime has banned journalists from entering Gaza:
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said “any unilateral action” by Egypt as regards letting journalists into Gaza might be seen [by Israel] as “inappropriate” and might “have adverse consequences to other components” of the arrangement between Egypt and Israel, such as “the entry of assistance.”
Cairo-based journalists confirmed that they had been told to request Israel’s agreement if they wanted to enter Gaza via the Egyptian Rafah border crossing. Those journalists who did seek Israel’s permission were refused entry.
An audio recording of the response that an Israeli press spokesperson gave to a journalist who requested a permit to enter via Rafah. She said she could not issue permits for a crossing point that is not under Israeli control and, referring to what the Egyptians are telling journalists, she said: “I have the impression it’s just a pretext. I think they’re making you go round in circles.”
Both regimes have an agenda of preventing international media coverage of the Zionist brutal genocide that has been ongoing for 9 months in Gaza. Israel is the driver of the blockade but Egypt is complicit in the deliberate news black-out which only serves to protect Israel from exposure as the terrorist entity it really is.
In Part Three I will get to the non-state actors with close ties to the Sisi regime who control Sinai, mediate with Israel and secure monopoly deals to rebuild Gaza post 2021’s Zionist aggression.
In further chapters I will also have a look at some of the organisations that publicly oppose Sisi’s normalisation-with-genocidal-Israel policy and examine who is really responsible for the humanitarian relief blockade on trucks entering Gaza through Rafah since October 7th, Israel or Egypt?
