jerusalem | The latest coalition crisis hasn’t been all bad for Ariel Sharon: For one thing, it has helped kindle a friendship with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Over the last few days, Mubarak and the Israeli prime minister have held several telephone conversations on how to push forward Sharon’s disengagement plan from the Palestinians, despite the political obstacles Sharon faces at home.
In a conversation Monday, May 31, Mubarak reiterated his support for Sharon’s plan and promised to promote it internationally.
But Mubarak’s role goes far deeper, according to the Egyptian state news agency, Mena. The agency reported that both Israel and the Palestinians have accepted an Egyptian plan for a cease-fire, a resumption of peace talks and a meeting between Sharon and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia.
Right-wing figures in Israel have voiced reservations about the shifting winds in Israel’s latest political drama.
News of Egypt’s expanding role came as Sharon battled opposition to his disengagement plan within his own Likud Party and Cabinet, and amid growing pressure from Washington for progress toward an Israel pullout from the Gaza Strip.
Washington is urging Israel to lay the groundwork for the withdrawal in cooperation with the Palestinians. Sharon’s chief of staff, Dov Weisglass, went to Washington this week to meet with President Bush’s national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice.
Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Shalom headed to Cairo. The official purpose was to set up a joint committee “to improve relations between the two countries.”
But behind the scenes was an attempt to create a dramatic change: For the first time since 1967, Egypt might play a role in the Gaza Strip.
It would function not as a ruling authority, as it did from 1948 to 1967 but, Israel hopes, as an honest broker helping the transition to Palestinian rule and preventing arms smuggling from Egypt into Gaza.
Once Israel begins withdrawing troops and settlers from Gaza, some 200 Egyptian military experts would help Palestinian Authority security services impose their rule over the crowded stripIn the meantime, Sharon is gaining politically from these new developments with Egypt: He has signaled to his rivals in the Likud that he means business and is laying the groundwork for a withdrawal.
Mubarak benefits by demonstrating that he is doing something on behalf of the Palestinians, something many Egyptians have sought for a long time. At the same time, Egypt’s involvement weakens Hamas, which stands to lose from an orderly transition to Palestinian Authority rule, and limits the radical Islamist group’s power base in Gaza, on Egypt’s doorstep.
If the Egyptians actually succeed in helping stabilize Gaza, their role could be a model for the West Bank, with Jordan serving as mediator there.
Israel’s talks with Cairo also could have more immediate effect: the departure of Arafat from quasi- detention at his compound in Ramallah.
In his talks in Jerusalem, Egyptian intermediary Omar Suleiman insisted that the Palestinian Authority president’s return to Gaza is paramount to restoring stability there.
But Israeli officials have indicated that there is no change in Israeli policy regarding Arafat: He can travel wherever he wants, but may not be allowed to return.