Egypt Tells Israel Not To Accept Qatar Deal

For some reason (because it wants to endear itself to the U.S.), Qatar become the third Arab country to establish diplomatic relations with Israel a few years back. Unlike the peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan, Qatar created sub-par, so to speak, relations with no embassies, but, rather, respective diplomatic missions. And the Israeli president paid a visit to the country twice in the last roughly two years.

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But with the horror of the Gaza war, Qatar ended relations and closed its offices in Tel Aviv and asked Israel to leave Doha. The Israeli president still paid his second visit after this suspension in official relations, and Qatari diplomats still spoke to their Israeli counterparts.

Recently, Qatar approached Israel with an offer to reopen diplomatic channels with one condition:

Israel has rejected two proposals from Qatar to restore diplomatic relations and let Israel reopen its office in the capital of Doha.

A senior source in Jerusalem said that in return for renewed diplomatic relations, the Qataris demanded that they be allowed to carry out a series of reconstruction projects in the Gaza Strip and to import the necessary construction materials. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman were unwilling to agree to this, he said.

Qatar deserves the dishonors of being rejected by the Israelis. There are honorable ways to help the Palestinians, ways that allow one to maintain their dignity; and none of them include shaking hands with an Israeli diplomat who does on T.V. to justify, nay cheer, the death of Arab children.

But then: who ever suspected Arab regimes of having any sense of Arab dignity or honor?

But it turns out that Egypt is the real culprit:

Israel rejected a Qatari proposal by the Persian Gulf emirate to carry out rehabilitation work in the Gaza Strip in exchange for renewing diplomatic relations with Israel after Egypt made it clear that it would find such a deal "difficult to digest".

According to Egyptian sources, Israel provided Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak with an outline of Qatar's proposal, which would allow it to bring construction materials and other goods into the Strip.

The Qataris would have undertaken reconstruction of infrastructure and earned an Israeli declaration recognizing Qatar's important status in the Middle East. In exchange, the Israeli diplomatic mission the Qataris closed during Operation Cast Lead would reopen.

Israel's rejection of the plan, it seems, resulted largely from Egyptian opposition.

An Egyptian source said his country was acting in coordination with Israel and the Quartet (the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia ). The source added: "Egypt has barred free passage of goods across its border into Gaza, despite criticism from other Arab countries and from the Egyptian public, and it would be inappropriate for Israel, in an effort to serve its own interests "to harm these agreements and put Egypt in an impossible position of being the only party blocking the passage of goods into Gaza."

Relations between Qatar and Egypt are tense, in part because of the sharp criticism voiced on Al Jazeera of Egypt and its Gaza policy. The TV station is owned by the emirate's ruling family. Qatar has been pursing its own independent foreign policy. It is seen in Egypt as an Iranian ally acting contrary to Arab interests. It is also, however, an American ally.

This is not surprising given the general disgraceful behavior of the tyrannical Mubarak regime.

Again, no honor.