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Israel marks 30 years of peace with Egypt
By STEVE WEIZMAN,Associated Press Writer AP - Thursday, March 26
JERUSALEM - When Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin shook hands with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat on the White House lawn on March 26, 1979, ordinary Israelis saw not only an end to war with their largest neighbor but also the hope of warm relations with the people next door.
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Things haven't quite worked out that way. This week, the countries mark the 30th anniversary of a historic treaty that has come to be known in Israel as the "cold peace."
Israel's government warns Israeli tourists not to visit Egypt because of threats by Islamic militants. Business and cultural ties are minimal, Egyptians with professional relations with Israel must hide the fact or face censure, and Egypt is barely acknowledging the anniversary.
Yet over three decades, the frosty relationship has given the two neighbors exactly what they need: peace and stability with what was once their most formidable enemy.
"The peace agreement has proved itself over the years," Shlomo Cohen, Israel's ambassador to Egypt, said Wednesday. "There are some problems expanding it, but all in all, on the security, political, economic and other levels, the peace agreement is definitely active and positive."
The two countries' militaries meet regularly to coordinate defense issues, such as the long, largely unfenced desert border as well as the Gaza Strip's volatile southern border with Egypt. There are active joint committees on economics and agriculture, and thousands of Egyptians have come to Israel for agricultural training, according to the Israeli Foreign Ministry. The agreement has also brought Egypt billions of dollars in U.S. aid.
While Egypt frequently criticizes Israeli policies toward the Palestinians, the Cairo government acts as an important mediator between Israel and its Arab enemies. Egypt is currently trying to arrange a cease-fire and prisoner swap between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza. It also is hosting reconciliation talks between Hamas and its Western-backed Palestinian rival, Fatah.
Still, Cohen lamented that the peace at the official level has not filtered down to everyday people in Egypt. "It needs to reach people's hearts and that's what's missing," he told Israel Radio. "Over the next few years, we need to work so the Egyptian people and society will adopt it."
He noted that he wasn't invited to any celebrations in Cairo. "That might be because there are no events," he said.
To be sure, serving as an Israeli diplomat in Cairo has become a difficult, even risky, task. The embassy building is heavily guarded, and in the 1980s, attacks on Israeli Embassy personnel killed two staffers and wounded six others. The shootings occurred on city streets, not at the embassy itself.
But Israel diplomat Amira Aron, a former economic attache in Cairo, said that she was treated well by her Egyptian contacts and that security was not restrictive.
"There was cooperation in agriculture, commerce. When you spoke to businessmen you were always accepted," she said. "There were places where you had to be careful, but all in all you lived there in safety and relative freedom. You could go to the cinema or to the opera or anything else."
Israel's government planned to mark the treaty anniversary with a reception Wednesday night hosted by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.
Among the invited guests was Egyptian Ambassador Yasser Reda, who nearly boycotted the event to protest the planned appointment of ultranationalist politician Avigdor Lieberman as Israel's next foreign minister.
Lieberman outraged Egyptians last year when he said that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak could "go to hell" because he refuses to visit Israel. The Egyptians apparently decided to attend after all because Lieberman's appointment has not been formally approved.
Speaking at a Hebrew University conference in Jerusalem Wednesday, Reda said the 30-year-old treaty was meant to serve as the basis for a wider comprehensive peace throughout the region.
He called on Israel to embrace a peace plan proposed by the 23-member Arab League offering comprehensive peace in exchange for accepting an independent Palestinian state on all lands captured in the 1967 Mideast war.
"It should be clear that this would serve to enable the Palestinians to secure their legitimate rights and would be in Israel's interests as well," he said.
Israel has said the plan is a basis for negotiations, but expressed some reservations.
In Cairo, Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said Egypt considers the anniversary an occasion to reflect on "what has been achieved and what could be achieved."
Aron, the former economic attache, believes the hopes of 1979 were colored by wishful thinking, but future relations could improve if the sides can break down their negative stereotypes.
"Someone who gets to know his neighbor better becomes less afraid of him, becomes less likely to believe untrue things about him," she said. "I think it will take a lot more time, but we're heading in the right direction."
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