Egypt-Israel peace treaty sparks debate

Cairo: "We have only one demand, which is to close the embassy and evict the ambassador." This slogan is usually chanted in anti-Israel protests on Egyptian streets. The last time this demand was vociferously made was during angry protests in Egypt against Israel's three-week onslaught on Gaza, which ended on January 18.

Anti-Israel activists in Egypt are, however, coming up with another demand reviewing or even abolishing the 1979 peace treaty with the Jewish state.

"In view of the enormous changes, which have occurred over the past 30 years, Egypt has the right under international law to demand the treaty be revised," said Hazem Allam, a professor of international law at Ain Shams University in Cairo.

In his opinion, a particular part prompting this revision is the one restricting the level of the Egyptian military in Sinai.

"Article four of this treaty allows for amending security arrangements in it on condition this amendment is pursued by the two partners' agreement," he told a recent seminar in Cairo.

Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel on March 26, 1979. The controversial treaty has allowed Israel to have full ties with Egypt, the Arab world's most populous country. But tensions in both countries' relations are not uncommon.

"Israel itself demanded in 2005 that 750 Egyptian security guards be deployed along the border with Gaza after its [Israel's] one-sided withdrawal from the enclave. By the same token, Egypt can demand an increased military and police presence in Sinai to protect its land," argued Allam.

In January 2008, hundreds of Palestinians breached through a fence on the Egyptian border and poured into Sinai to flee an inexorable Israeli blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip since the Islamist movement Hamas seized its control in July 2007.

"Thirty years are enough for any country to demand the revision or even the freeze of any treaty with others," said Helmi Shaarawi, who heads the Centre of Arab and African Research at Cairo University, which is Egypt's biggest public university. He favours the suspension of the treaty "so long as Israel continues to occupy Arab territories and pursue aggressive policy."

In fact, Egyptian courts are presently hearing five lawsuits pushing for scrapping the treaty with Israel.

"All the options should be considered in order to ensure that this treaty will not continue to harm Egypt's interests," added Shaarawi.

"This treaty has many defects exposed over the past 30 years. Israel itself has not respected its commitments in the treaty. So why not seek reconsidering the whole treaty?"