Don't count on Egypt

 Nature of Egyptian regime won't allow it to curb arms smuggling to Gaza

 Mordechai Kedar

18.01.09

These days, Cairo undergoes the kind of period that the biblical Sarah referred to as follows: "After I am worn out, I will have this pleasure." The entire world heads to the Egyptian capital, including our very own Amos Gilad, so that Mubarak would be kind enough to salvage the globe from this troublesome disturbance known as "the war on Gaza." Everyone thinks that Egypt is the central axis in any possible solution, mostly because of its ability to put an end to arms smuggling to the Strip and open the Rafah Crossing to Gazans, as Hamas demands. (......)

We shall see United Nations decisions and perhaps some agreements, yet we shall only see implementation on the ground once Egypt is able to control the Bedouins, once there are no longer bribes there, and once Mubarak's orders are carried out. Until that time, you can forget about Egypt putting an end to the smuggling. Yet in the Middle East one always needs to be optimistic. Things can only get better from here.

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