The diplomatic flare-up between Cairo and Tel Aviv over Israel's killing of five Egyptian security officers caught in the middle of a firefight between Palestinians and Israelis in the Sinai has served to highlight the tenuousness of the peace treaty in the aftermath of Egypt's revolution. Even though it appeared to be an accident, Egyptians remain livid over last week's incident, attested by the thousands who gathered outside the Israeli Embassy in Cairo and the Israeli Consulate in Alexandria demanding the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador and the cancellation of the treaty. Determined youths in both cities managed to remove the Israeli flag from atop the embassy and consulate and replaced it with the Egyptian standard. In subsequent days, Egyptian presidential hopefuls and politicians have been falling over themselves to condemn the Israeli attack. On the other side, Israel has proved its eagerness to protect the status quo with a swift verbal apology and its acceptance of a joint Israeli-Egyptian probe into the incident. However, the Israelis should understand that Egypt without Hosni Mubarak will not be as passive when it comes to ties with the Jewish state. Had Mubarak still been president, Thursday's shootout would have been met with a much less stronger reaction -- perhaps a summoning of the Israeli ambassador for consultation, and may be not even that. Mubarak wanted to be on such good terms with Israel, as well as with America -- Israel's No 1 ally and Egypt's No 1 benefactor -- that more than likely he would have turned a blind eye and lent a deaf ear to the entire incident. But that was then. The new rulers of Egypt will not sweep the matter under the rug, with the cabinet, in a strongly worded statement, holding Israel politically and legally responsible for the incident. The reality is that most Egyptians want to see the peace treaty abrogated because it does not reflect their true sentiments. Egyptian sympathies have always lied with the Palestinians who are the victims of an uncompromising occupation. They are seething that Mubarak put US and Israeli interests above their own and those of the Palestinians to the extent of closing Egypt's border to the residents of Gaza even as they were being horrifically bombed in the 2008 apocalypse, and selling gas to Israel at prices lower than production costs. This is not just a tale of Egypt and Israel, but Israel and the Palestinians. Last week's incident began when Palestinian activists crossed into southern Israel and killed eight Israelis. Retaliatory Israeli air strikes on Gaza killed 15 Palestinians. Calm has replaced the tit-for-tat exchanges but tension could rapidly erupt again. Shall again Egyptian forces be caught up in so-called friendly fire should Israeli troops decide to chase Palestinian activists? Last week's attack provoked fury among ordinary Egyptians who readily admit there is little love lost between them and Israel, a situation akin to irreconcilable differences that doom a marriage. Yet it is hard to imagine the ties being severed. There is currently little to no appetite for all-out war with Israel. Egypt's new leaders have asserted their commitment to the 1979 peace treaty with Israel. But they face a dilemma, caught as they are between pressure to preserve the accord and popular hostility to Israel. In choosing which side to take, Egypt's leadership is obviously being more responsive to public opinion about Tel Aviv, which remains overwhelmingly unpopular because of its conflict with the Palestinians. Those embassy protests were as much about Egyptian resentment towards Israel as the fact that they could only have been witnessed in the post-Mubarak era. The killing of the Egyptian policemen is a stern test of the relationship between Egypt and Israel who have fought four wars. The political upheaval in Egypt has heightened tension with Israel which, in turn, should no longer act as if Mubarak were still president.
