Keeping Peace with Egypt and Jordan, First Members of Abrahamic Peace Accords

 Nadene Goldfoot                                     

   

Anwar Sadat was president of Egypt in 1979, the year peace was signed with Israel.   He was an Egyptian army officer and politician who was president of Egypt from 1970 until his assassination in 1981. He initiated serious peace negotiations with Israel, an achievement for which he shared the 1978 Nobel Prize for Peace with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Under their leadership, Egypt and Israel made peace with each other in 1979.      

                                                                   

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid (L) meets Egyptian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nabil Habashi (R) in Cairo, Egypt on 9 December 2021. [Shlomi Amsalem / Pool - Anadolu Agency]  They've had 43 years of peace between the 2 countries.  

Menachem Begin was PM of Israel in 1979 when Egypt signed the peace treaty with Israel.

"During all the wars against the Gaza Strip, the regime in Egypt sided with Israel and took an anti-Palestinian resistance stance in Gaza, except the 2012 war that took place during the reign of Morsi, who fully supported Gaza, " Sawaf explained.

The analyst said that situation worsened further when the Rafah crossing – connecting Gaza with Egypt – was closed following the Israeli aggression as punishment for the Palestinian resistance. He said the crossing was restored only after Hamas leaders threatened to suspend all agreements with the Egyptian side regarding security in Sinai.                     

Sadat with Jimmy Carter of US and Begin of Israel with Camp David Peace Accords in 1978.  
               

    King Hussein of Jordan (l) shares a smoke with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin after the signing ceremony of the Israeli – Jordanian peace treaty. October 26. Photo credit: Reuters

Jordan celebrating their 25th anniversary of peace with Israel 

The treaty between Israel and Jordan in 1994 was the culmination of over thirty years of discreet engagement and cooperation, punctuated by periods of tension and conflict. It reflects a broad base of shared interests and of particular but complementary perspectives.

Yitzhak Rabin was the PM of Israel when Jordan signed their peace treaty with Israel.

Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel  in 1979 and Jordan signed in 1994, a span of 15 years.  "Since then, both countries have maintained full diplomatic relations, as well as close, though clandestine, military and security cooperation."                                          

   Bill Clinton of USA with King Hussein and  Rabin of Israel

                                                 

U.S. President Bill Clinton looks on as Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) leader Yasser Arafat shake hands after the signing of the Israeli-PLO peace accord at the White House in this September 13, 1993. Photo credit: Reuters

Security, normalized interactions, acceptance of Israel in the region, the right of Palestinian self determination, and the role of Egypt and Israel in the newly emerging Middle East setting were topics of discussion at a historical meeting which had taken place in May 1979, in Cairo.  About a dozen intellectuals from Israel and Egypt met to discuss these and related issues. 

They identified important areas in which they shared crucial common interests with Israel which were shown by the dangers and threats posed by the rise of radical and militant Islamist groups such as Islamic State (ISIS) and the various jihadist factions affiliated with al-Qaida and Hamas.

Israel saw that there was a big difference between perceptions of the three of them of these dangers and the reality facing Jordan to the east and particularly Egypt to the west.

ISIS was such a danger, causing the struggling in bloody battles in Syria and Iraq and turning its eyes on Jordan for future take-overs.  However, Israel's security sources saw no evidence of its presence then in the Hashemite Kingdom.  They thought that Jordan and Israel really needed a "peace" border to forstall future changes, having nothing like a fence between them at the time.  

The Egyptian border was not calm and had more cause to worry Israel, though they had a peace treaty for a longer time.  Israel completed a 200 km long fence from Eilat to Gaza in 2012. It's 3-4 meters (13.1234 feet) high equipped with electronic sensors and cameras.   

The fence was first designed to stop the flood of African immigrants and job seekers from Eritrea and Sudan that were invading the little Israel when 6,000 to 10,000 people-sometimes entire families--were able to easily infiltrate Israel from the Sinai Peninsula. PBS reported 60,000 sought refuge in Israel by 2013. Just 12 people managed to reach what is for them the "promised land" of Israel the next year from these African countries.  

From 2011 to 2014, the fence became the stop, or at least scaled down the threat of terrorism. The 'sand clock') referred to the fence built by Israel along its border with Egypt. Initial construction on the barrier began on 22 November 2010.

Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak's regime  in 2011 was toppled during the Arab Spring, and the installation of the Muslim Brotherhood regime of Mohamed Morse  In response, watch groups were organized by civilian vigilantes to protect their neighborhoods. On 11 February 2011, Vice President Omar Suleiman announced that Mubarak resigned as president, turning power over to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF).  He was sentenced to death by an Egyptian court.                                   

A terrorist group emerged in Sinai calling itself Ansar Beit al-Maqdas, meaning Supporters of Jerusalem. Later in 2014, they renamed itself ISIS (Islamic State, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and by its Arabic acronym Daesh in the Sinai Province (SP)of the Islamic State, after pledging allegiance to ISIS and its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.  Why?  Its ideology and hope for financial gain.  ISIS is a militant Islamist group and former unrecognized quasi-state that follows the Salafi jihadist branch of Sunni Islam.  

ISIS had split in 2012 from Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida and had introduced radical Islam.  Instead of advocating world terrorism with no borders, it preached the creation of territorial units that would follow  the fundamentalist 7th century ideas that ruled the region with the spread of Muhammad's Islam, more like Iran.  By 2014, ISIS conquered Iraq and Syria, spreading this view.  During 2015, SP militants killed 350 Egyptian soldiers, policemen, security servicemen and government officials. 

New York Times reported in August 2021 that An Islamic State (ISIS)  affiliate that is a sworn enemy of both the Taliban and the United States threatens a large-scale attack against the mission at the airport.  ISIS poses the biggest immediate terrorist threat to evacuation in Kabul, Afghanistan.   The United States has been battling the Taliban and their militant partners in Afghanistan, Al Qaeda and the Haqqani network, for 20 years.

                 Egypt and Jordan's view of Iran

Following the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, and the appointment of ambassadors after nearly 30 years, Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi made a historic first visit to Iran since the Iranian Revolution for the Non-Aligned Movement summit on 30 August 2012, where it handed over the rotating presidency to Iran. Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, also visited Egypt in February 2013, making him the first Iranian president to visit Egypt since the Iranian Revolution..                        

Part of Iran’s expansion effort, as the Jordanian monarch noted, includes the destabilization of Jordan from the north, where drug smugglers are already wreaking havoc. Jordan also faces a threat from the south, with Iranian assets reportedly operating in the Red Sea. This all amounts to a direct threat to both Saudi Arabia and Israel. Both view the Hashemite Kingdom as a valuable asset. Stability on their respective borders is something both countries will protect at great cost.

Building on the momentum of the Red Sea islands negotiations, the White House has an opportunity to push the two sides in the right direction. After Abdullah’s recent visit to Washington, the Biden administration has renewed its commitment to Jordanian security. Enlisting the help of Riyadh and Jerusalem, separately and together, is the next logical step. 

Resource:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anwar-Sadat

https://www.jstor.org/stable/173749

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20220218-normalising-ties-with-israel-still-lacks-popular-support-in-egypt-says-analyst/

https://jiss.org.il/en/krasna-the-jordan-israel-peace-treaty-at-25/

The Jerusalem Report, March 23, 2015 , magazine

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/spc/unpromised-land/ 2013

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2019/10/23/25-years-on-remembering-the-path-to-peace-for-jordan-and-israel/

https://thedispatch.com/p/jordan-has-an-iran-problem-can-israel?s=r

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Egyptian_revolution#:~:text=In%20response%2C%20watch%20groups%20were,the%20Armed%20Forces%20(SCAF).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egypt%E2%80%93Israel_barrier#:~:text='sand%20clock')%20refers%20to,from%20African%20countries%20into%20Israel.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Spring

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/25/us/politics/isis-terrorism-afghanistan-taliban.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_State

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egypt%E2%80%93Iran_relations#:~:text=Despite%20oft%2Dwavering%20tensions%20between,OIC%20and%20the%20Developing%208.&text=According%20to%20a%202013%20BBC,48%25%20expressing%20a%20negative%20view.

Nuclear Reactors of Iraq and Syria and Who Stopped Them

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                      

"On June 7, 1981, when Jimmy Carter was ending his American presidency,  Israel bombed the Osirak  nuclear reactor the French had built for Iraq under the guise of needing peacetime power. This was stated by a country knee-deep in oil. It  had been under construction 17 kilometers (10.5 miles) southeast of Baghdad.   It is the world's first air strike against a nuclear plant.   "The 70-megawatt uranium-powered reactor was near completion but had not been stocked with nuclear fuel so there was no danger of a leak, according to sources in the French atomic industry."  The atomic bombs from this "would be of the Hiroshima size. Thus a mortal danger to the people of Israel progressively arose."  The Israeli leaders for this operation were Prime Minister Menachem Begin and  Air Force Commander, David Ivry.  Casualties in the attack numbered 10 Iraqi soldiers and one civilian Frenchman.  

Israel  acted then because it believed the reactor would be completed shortly - either at the beginning of July or the beginning of September 1981."  "Iraq does not share a border with Israel, but since 1948 it has been one of Israel's staunchest enemies. 

Iraq made Israel a prime target for attack during the Gulf War and was a sponsor of terrorism against Israel. The 2003 Iraq War, however, destroyed much of the Iraqi army and deposed Saddam Hussein opening up the possibility that a new, democratically elected Iraqi government may change its orientation toward Israel and adopt a policy that if not friendly, is at least less hostile.
                                                                                   

Israeli jet that protected from nuclear facility
in Operation Opera 

 "The attack was strongly criticized around the world, including in the United States, and Israel was rebuked by the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly in two separate resolutions.  Media reactions were no less negative: "Israel's sneak attack ... was an act of inexcusable and short-sighted aggression", wrote the New York Times, while the Los Angeles Times called it "state-sponsored terrorism". The destruction of Osirak has been cited as an example of a preventive strike in contemporary scholarship on international law." 


Iraq had been in every war against Israel; 1948,  1967, and 1973,  They border Israel and were enemies; enemies now building an atomic reactor with a history of ONLY attacking Israel. The Israelis viewed the reactor with suspicion, and said that it was designed to make nuclear weapons.  Iraq never did respond.   During the Persian Gulf War from August 2, 1990 to February 28, 1991, Iraq fired 39 modified Scud ballistic missiles at Israel despite there being no aggression from Israel at the time. Israel, under pressure from the United States with President George Herbert Walker Bush, never retaliated. 
                                                                            

America's Vice President Cheney for George Walker Bush found out in the Spring of 2007 that Israel had been at it again.  This time they had found out from the Israelis that east of Damascus in the Syrian desert, the North Koreans were building secretly a replica of their own reactor at Yongbyon.  They were almost finished with the building.  This was near the town of Al-Kibar and was a fact that the US intelligence community had completely missed. 
                                                                     

Cheney was told about it by the head of Israel's Mossad, Aluf Meir Dagan nee Hubermann.  
Meir just died Mary 17, 2016 at age 71, born in 1945 at the end of WWII.   He was considered for the elite Sayeret Matkal unit, but ended up joining the Paratroopers Brigade.

That's all the world had needed.  What if Assad had been able to use their own plutonium-producing nuclear reactor.  Assad hadn't hesitated when he used Sarin gas on his own people.  The world would have been in jeopardy, especially Israel.  Israel "discovered Al-Kibar in the nick of time.  They also carried out the attack that was almost certainly the only means of ensuring the reactor never went hot."  (John Hannah (foreign Policy).  

Israel took it out.  "Israel's September 6, 2007, attack on Syria's Al-Kibar nuclear facility surprised the world—Syria most of all. The operation, executed by the Israeli Air Force (IAF), was reminiscent of Israel's 1981 attack on Iraq's Osirak reactor, but with two noticeable differences. First, Israel remained silent following the Al-Kibar bombing, while in 1981 it boasted publicly about the Iraq strike even before the pilots had returned. Second, whereas the international community knew of Saddam Hussein's nuclear plans in 1981, few were aware of the extent of Syria's nuclear program in 2007.
                                                                     

Demonstration at Isfahan nuclear facility in Iran
of their right to nuclear power-
worried after Syria's center was destroyed by Israel.

In December 2015, the IAEA issued a report concluding:

The Agency assesses that a range of activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device were conducted in Iran prior to the end of 2003 as a coordinated effort, and some activities took place after 2003. The Agency also assesses that these activities did not advance beyond feasibility and scientific studies, and the acquisition of certain relevant technical competences and capabilities. The Agency has no credible indications of activities in Iran relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device after 2009.

Following this report, the IAEA Board of Governors passed a resolution closing its consideration of the issues in the report and terminating previous resolutions about Iran.  Iran has held a series of meetings with a group of six countries: China, France, Germany, Russia, United Kingdom, United States. These six are known as the P5+1 (the permanent five members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) or alternatively as the E3+3. These meetings are intended to resolve concerns about Iran's nuclear program."From the initial reports we can already conclude that this agreement is a historic mistake for the world," Netanyahu said Tuesday. "Far-reaching concessions have been made in all areas that were supposed to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons capability."  They will get it after so many years.  it was a deal that took 2 years to get to.                                                                   

Paul Vallely b: 1939, retired Major General and  senior military analyst for Fox News.
He served in the Vietnam War and retired in 1993 as Deputy 
Commanding General, Pacific Command.. He is co-author of ENDGAME.  

In an  interview, Retired US Army Major General Paul Vallely told WND that President Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry and chief White House adviser Valerie Jarrett “are treading on treason under the U.S. Constitution for aiding and abetting Iran, a known enemy of the United States, while throwing Israel, a longtime U.S. ally, to the wolves.”

Now I read that a general is prodding Israel to take out the Iran facilities.  Israel had fought against their ability to produce atomic weapons with the Stuxnet virus in Iranian computers using to create such  vile weapons. They are facing one of 2 things; either the Messiah will appear and save Israel or Iran will be able to manufacture anything they want in about 14 years.  According to Donald Trump, the USA signed on a terrible deal with Iran's nuclear power.   The window for Israel to attack has come and gone.  All of the Middle East is at jeopardy.   Military experts are saying that Iran already has nuclear weapons.  

Resource:  http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2014/06/baghdad-one-day-away-from-jerusalem.html
http://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/826/the-attack-on-syrias-al-kibar-nuclear-facility
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Opera
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Threats_to_Israel/Iraq.html
The World Dodged a Bullet in Syria-Thanks to Israel-John Hannah (Foreign Policy).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meir_Dagan
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/game-plan-if-israel-strikes-iran-first/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_program_of_Iran
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/14/politics/iran-nuclear-deal/
http://www.wnd.com/2015/08/military-experts-iran-already-has-nuclear-weapons/
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/08/military-experts-iran-already-has-nuclear-weapons/#Z7fwF07w1ifJS38M.99