Israeli government ‘inciting against Egypt,’ says opposition party leader

The head of the Democrats Party in Israel has accused Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of “creating negative feelings towards Egypt,” a country with which the occupation state has a peace treaty.

“This government is busy creating negative feelings towards Egypt, but it is our duty to tell the truth,” News1 website quoted Yair Golan as saying. “The plan proposed by the Egyptians on Tuesday for the day after the Gaza war is the correct basis for strengthening Israel’s security in the south.”

However, said Golan, several clauses must be added to the Egyptian plan: “The Gaza Strip must eventually become demilitarised; a reliable party other than Hamas must be appointed to manage public order in the Gaza Strip; a multinational force of observers should be stationed in Sinai along the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip and manage the Rafah crossing; and the Israeli army must continue to enjoy absolute operational freedom against any armed organisation working against us.”

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Meanwhile, Egypt’s former Undersecretary of the Ministry of Endowments, writer and Islamic researcher Sheikh Saad Al-Faqih, denounced Avigdor Lieberman, the leader of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, who has called on the Egyptian authorities to open the Rafah crossing and allow the displacement of the residents of the Gaza Strip to Sinai. Lieberman believes that Egypt must bear responsibility for the Strip and that it should be subject to its control, within the framework of an Israeli vision to resolve the Palestinian issue.

Al-Faqih was scathing in his response. He said that Lieberman’s statements are illusions and lies that can only come from an “unconscious idiot”. He insisted that the Sinai Peninsula is Egyptian and will remain Egyptian, as it was liberated with the blood of Egyptians who sacrificed many martyrs on its land.

“Egypt, its government, people and president,” said the former official, “reject the liquidation of the central issue, which is that the Palestinians must be allowed to establish their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital. The usurping occupier must be removed, and whoever says otherwise has a disease in their heart and a veil over their eyes.”

Lieberman served as the minister of defence of the occupation state between 2016 and 2018. “Sinai presents an efficient and practical solution for the Palestinians in Gaza, which would not entail the migration of millions of people across large distances,” he told the Jerusalem Post. “In accordance with US President Donald Trump’s initiative, one million people from Gaza could relocate to Sinai and be set on a path towards gainful employment, economic growth and prosperity.”

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