Keep the peace between Israel and Egypt

[bemildred]

My fingers burned with excitement. It was just weeks after Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's dramatic trip to Israel in November 1977 and my boss had just returned from Egypt, the first Israel Defense Forces officer ever to visit that nation. I was a young officer, and the "present" he brought me — a standard tourist postcard — was the most precious one I could imagine. It was something from Egypt, and it was not going to explode. Until Sadat's trip, and the 1979 Israel-Egypt peace treaty that followed, that sort of contact had been as tangible to Israelis as the moon. The postcard was a sublime gift.

I have been reminded of that moment recently.

On Friday, an Egyptian mob broke through barriers and attacked the Israeli Embassy in Cairo, forcing the Israeli ambassador to flee. After initially dodging frantic calls from Israeli leaders and U.S. ones as well, the Egyptian government finally responded and sent in commandos to save embassy personnel from an all but certain violent death.

Two weeks earlier, Palestinian terrorists killed eight Israeli civilians along the border with Egypt, and in the firefight that followed, IDF troops accidentally killed a number of Egyptian soldiers. The provisional government in Egypt initially threatened to recall its ambassador from Israel, and thousands demonstrated against Israel in Cairo.


http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-freilich-egypt-peace-20110914,0,4162116.story

[Jefferson23]

1. Can he fear monger any louder? sheesh..and this one is rich:

" We all rejoice when despots fall". yea..Israel was just thrilled when Mubarak fell.

I wonder how he would vote if he could, yes or no for statehood this month..funny how he doesn't say.

[bemildred]

2. He is careful.

We know which side he is on.
I think his concerns are well founded, and war is a bad thing.
His solutions are not very specific.
I suppose he does not want to antagonize anybody.
So it carefully expresses nice sentiments and raises an alarm I consider worth raising.

[Jefferson23]

3. I'll agree to disagree on his concerns being well founded. n/t

[bemildred]

4. You think war is good?

I am curious. What do you think he is trying to do?

[Jefferson23]

6. I do not believe war is good, my disagreement with his warning is the

presumption there will be war. You may be correct that he is trying to be careful and not say anything
to antagonize anyone, but then why bother at all. He seems to believe the situation is dire, yet no advice. The answer is so obvious
to any honest person...give the Palestinians statehood..at the very least, let them have that.

I have concerns but not on any level he is referring to, the Egyptians are not suicidal, the peace treaty will remain.

[bemildred]

7. Well I hope you are right. nt

[bemildred]

5. Ah, I see, you think this is about the UN vote.

I thought he took that outcome for granted.