Politician: Mursi Opposed to Normalized Ties with Israel

Egypt’s President Mohammad Mursi has picked up opposition to normalization of relations with Israel as his government’s strategy, a senior Egyptian politician underlined on Saturday.

“The two sides’ (Israel and Egypt) relations have weakened after the empowerment of Mursi and it is natural since Mursi’s strategy is a popular strategy and opposes normalization of ties with the (Zionist) regime,” a leader of Egypt’s Freedom and Justice Party affiliated to Ikhwan al-Muslimoun Badr al-Fallah told FNA.

He also referred to the Zionist regime’s threats against Egypt, and said since the very first day of its establishment, the regime has threatened Cairo and it is now trying to affect Mursi’s relations with the outside world and stop the development process in Egypt.

A recently conducted poll in Egypt indicated that a majority of people in the Muslim country are against Cairo’s relations with Israel and demand a dissolution of Camp David Treaty.

The survey was conducted by the firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner and sponsored by the Israel Project, a pro-Israel advocacy organization with offices in the US and Israel among 812 Egyptian respondents.

The Rosner survey showed the Egyptians’ rising antagonism towards Israel, with 74 percent of the respondents opposing continuation of Cairo-Tel Aviv ties and 77 percent calling for dissolution of Egypt-Israel peace treaty.

Omar al-Shal, the founder of Egypt’s popular movement and a prominent Egyptian judge told FNA in an exclusive interview in Cairo in mid October that annulling the treaty with Israel would allow Egyptians once again to gain control over the Sinai desert, because the Camp David Accord distances Cairo from its key role in the region, especially as with regard to the Palestinian issue.

“The Camp David Accord should definitely be annulled in order to let us regain control over the Sinai desert because the accord causes our (Egypt’s) dependence, detaches Egypt from its Arab ethnicity, distances us from our determining role in the region, specially with regard to the Palestinian issue, and stops our role as a decision-maker,” said Al-Shal, who is among the founders of the recent Egyptian revolution which toppled the country’s dictator, Hosni Mubarak.

Last October, former Egyptian Ambassador to the Palestinian territories Gamal Mazloum told FNA that Egypt should take action to boost its forces in the Sinai Desert and make a formal request to correct and modify the Camp David Accord.

“Since the Zionist regime has several times breached the Camp David Accord, Egypt should use its power and increase its military presence in the Sinai Desert if the Israeli regime rejects a willing modification of Camp David,” he said at the time.

Also in September 2011, a leading Egyptian political activist had underlined the necessity of revisions in the Camp David Accord between Cairo and Tel Aviv, stressing that the deal is no more valid.

“Camp David has been annulled and has no more credit and value,” member of Egypt’s National Association for Change George Ishaq told FNA in Cairo at the time.

In October 2011, Egyptian youths stormed the Israeli embassy and destroyed a part of a barricade wall around the building, forcing the Israeli ambassador to flee Cairo.