“You can’t make war in the Middle East without Egypt and
you can’t make peace without Syria.” -
Henry Kissinger
In Egyptian mythology,
gods were considered heroes. In
more modern times, it is men who are the heroes. Without a doubt, General Gamal Abdul Nasser has
secured his legacy as a hero - a revolutionary who fought for Egypt and strived
for Arab unity against Israel and Western imperialism. This month marks the 50th
anniversary of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war; a pre-planned war of aggression and
expansion by Israel against Egypt, Jordan, and Syria, aided by the US and
Britain.
Israel’s cronies assisted in the planning and execution of
the war which led to the seizure and
occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Syria Golan (Golan Heights) and
the Sinai Peninsula. Prior to the start
of the war, as early as May, Lyndon Johnson who assumed the presidency after the
tragic assassination of JF Kennedy, authorized air shipment of arms to Israel[i]. Furthermore, the United States facilitated Israeli air attacks and
advances by sending reconnaissance aircraft to track movement of Egyptian
ground forces and American spy satellites provided imagery to Israel [ii]. According to reports American and British carrier-based aircraft flew sorties
against the Egyptians and U.S. aircraft attacked Egypt. Judging by their cover-up, the American
leadership had as little compassion for American blood as it did for Arab
blood. The Israeli attack against USS
Liberty that killed and injured American servicemen was buried in a sea of
lies.
Fifty years on, the war rages on and Israel
has a different set of cronies. In sharp
contrast to Nasser, el-Sisi, Egypt’s antihero has thrown his lot in with Israel
and Saudi Arabia against his Arab brethren. El-Sisi’s betrayal has been so outlandish and
stark that even the neocon
leaning New York Times published a scathing article titled: “Egypt’s
Lost Islands, Sisi’s Shame” by Adhaf Soueif. This is a remarkable piece rarely seen in the
pages of the NYT given its reputation (see LOOT for example).
Soueif rightly calls el-Sisi’s to task for handing over the Tiran and Sanafir Islands at the mouth of Gulf
of Aqaba to Saudi Arabia. More telling
is the fact that the transfer had been discussed with, and had received the
blessings of Israel, according to Israel’s
Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon. The implications of an Israeli-Saudi-Egyptian
alliance are enormous; though hardly the first act of treason by el-Sisi.
In his article Soueif also touches on
the dam being built by Ethiopia (the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam) which was
opposed to by former President Mohamed Morsi who was ousted in a coup
by el-Sisi. It is crucial that this
project be further explored as it relates not only to Egypt, but also the past
and future politics and geopolitics of the region.
Before moving on however, it is important to recall that Morsi was democratically
elected to office in the aftermath of the Egyptian ‘revolution’. His support of the Palestinians and his
opposition to the dam did not sit well with Israel. Morsi had even called “Jews
descendants of pigs and apes”. Both
HAMAS and the U.S.-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed Morsi’s
election. Abbas called Morsi "the
choice of the great people of Egypt" while one of his senior aides, Saeb
Erekat, said the democratic vote for Morsi "meant the Palestinian cause
was the Number
One priority for all Egyptians".
Though perhaps the greater concern for Israel was Morsi’s opposition to
the construction of the dam. A
construction favored by Israel and Saudi
Arabia.
In 2012, it was reported
that Saudi Arabia had claimed a stake in the Nile. Israel’s ambitions went much further
back. First initiated by Theodore Herzl
in 1903, the diversion plan was dropped due to British and Egyptian opposition
to it only to be picked up again in the 1970s. At that time, Israeli’s idea was to convince
Egypt to divert Nile water to Israel. In
1978, President Anwar Sadat “declared in Haifa to the Israeli public that he
would transfer Nile water to the Negev. Shortly afterward, in a letter to
Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, Sadat promised that Nile water would go
to Jerusalem. During Mubarak’s presidency,
published reports indicated that Israeli experts were helping Ethiopia to plan
40 dams along the Blue Nile.”[iii]
On May 30, 2013, The Times of Israel
reported that the construction on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (on the
Blue Nile) had sparked a major diplomatic crisis with Egypt. The article also reported (citing Al-Arabiya)
that Major General Mohammed Ali Bilal, the deputy chief of staff of the
Egyptian Armed Forces, had said Egypt was not in a position to confront the
project (countries). “The only solution
lies in the US intervening to convince Ethiopia to alleviate the impact of the
dam on Egypt.” No such solutions from
the U.S.
On June 3rd,
Morsi
met with his cabinet to discuss the dam and its implications. Cabinet members were surprised to learn that
the meeting was aired live. During
the meeting, a cabinet member said: “Imagine what 80 million of us would do
to Israel and America if our water was turned off”. Morsi contended that “We have very serious
measures to protect every drop of Nile water.”
With el-Sisi’s “democratic coup”
which was handsomely rewarded,
the dam project is on schedule to be completed by year’s end. As Israel has expands and accelerates its
wars of aggression, the wider implications of el-Sisi’s will reverberate
throughout the region as serve-serving Arab leaders fight their own to execute
Israel’s agenda.
[i]
Camille Mansour. “Beyond Alliance: Israel and U.S.
Foreign Policy” Columbia 1994, p.89
[ii] Stephen J. Green. “Taking Sides: America's Secret Relations
With A Militant Israel”. William Morrow
and Co., NY 1984
[iii]
“Will Nile water go to Israel? North Sinai
pipelines and the politics of scarcity”, Middle
East Policy (Sep 1997): 113-124.
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