Thursday, February 25, 2016

Normalization of the Relationships Between Egypt and Israel Can be a Positive Step

The normalization of the relationships between Egypt and Israel can be a positive step forward. Although there are lot of spilled blood and horrible memories between the two countries these can be left in history books. However, the positive cooperation can be beneficial for both countries and may helpful for both.
Wiping Israel from the map by some in Egypt is a foolish dream and pure fantasy or hallucination and many past wars resulted in a humiliating defeats for Egypt and its army with huge losses in life.
Israel never attacked Islam in Egypt or tried to convert Muslims unlike the more of a dozen Coptic television channels and satellites which are very active attacking Islam, the Quraan, Prophet Muhamed and his companions including the four Khaliefs. This can be more concerns for Muslims in Egypt than Israel.

Egyptian MP invites Israeli ambassador to dinner


The recent visit of the Israeli ambassador to the Egyptian parliament member Tawfeeq Okasha at his house is a welcome initiative. It looks also has the factual blessing of the Egyptian strong man Abdel-Fatta7 al-Seesy.

MP Tawfik Okasha hosts Israeli ambassador Haim Koren
MP Tawfik Okasha hosts Israeli ambassador Haim Koren. A member of the Egyptian parliament, Tawfik Okasha, has invited the Israeli ambassador in Cairo to a dinner at his house to discuss the option of Israeli mediation in Egypt's Nile dispute with Ethiopia, Egyptian media has reported.

Okasha, the owner of the Egyptian al-Faraeen television channel, delivered the invitation to the Israeli ambassador during his TV show "Egypt Today," in which he claimed that Israeli mediation is the key to solving the Nile dispute.

Okasha surprisingly announced: "I have personally invited the Israeli ambassador to Cairo, Chaim Koren, to a dinner at my house next week to discuss the Nile dispute and other important issues," and directed a message to Egyptian journalists: "I will take a photo with him and give it to you so you can publish it."

While Israel and Egypt established formal relations in the 1979 Camp David peace treaty, Egyptian politicians and cultural figures have refused to normalize relations with Israeli figures, resulting in a de facto boycott.

Regarding normalization with Israel, Okasha said: "We, the Egyptians have a schizophrenic personality. Don't our police secure the Israeli ambassador? Doesn’t our intelligence participate in safeguarding him? The safeguarding of the Israeli ambassador is 15 times better than the safeguarding of any other ambassador in Egypt. Isn't the presence of an Israeli ambassador in Egypt a result of Israel and Egypt's mutual recognition of each other?"

The Nile dispute refers to Egypt's disagreement with Ethiopia over the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Resistance Dam. While Ethiopia is interested in the project as a source of  renewable energy, Egypt is concerned about the storage capacity of the dam, which could lead to a decrease in its share of the river’s water. The project could also lead to periods of drought and a possible dam collapse as a result of its construction in an area with a strong flow of Blue Nile waters, Egypt argues.

In previous remarks, Okasha suggested giving Israel two billion cubic meters of the Nile waters in exchange for its mediation in the Nile dispute. On his TV show, he claimed that Koren's involvement is necessary to prevent the dispute from inflicting damage on farmers in the Nile's Delta.

In an interview with Army Radio on Wednesday, Israel’s ambassador to Cairo, Haim Koren, claimed that he was surprised to hear about Okasha's public invitation, which stands in contrast to the anti-normalization policy of the Egyptian parliament. He added: "When an Egyptian MP is interested in promoting the shared interest of Israel and Egypt, of course we welcome the initiative and try to figure out what it is abou



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