Is Egypt ceding influence in Gaza to Iran, and is the latter fighting for it, Dina Ezzat asks Cairo is shrugging off statements made this week by Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah who called on Egypt to unilaterally open the Rafah border crossing to facilitate humanitarian assistance to over 1.5 million Palestinians desperate under a harsh Israeli siege. Nasrallah, Egyptian officials said, is free to make whatever appeals he wishes, but that will not change the Egyptian stance, which is to insist that only by the reinstatement of Palestinian Authority security personnel on the Palestinian side of Rafah would Egypt open its side of the crossing. "The umma [Islamic and Arab world] and history will always appreciate such a historic and brave move on the side of the Egyptian leadership should it decide to make the move," Nasrallah said Monday evening as he called for demonstrations in South Lebanon in solidarity with Gaza. The leader of Hizbullah called on the Arab League and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference to support Egypt towards making this move. "Nasrallah is reducing the problem of Gaza to a mere humanitarian crisis and this is a big mistake," commented one Egyptian official who spoke on condition of anonymity. According to this source, Nasrallah's position and the "attempt to exercise pressure on Egypt" is based on "an erroneous analysis" that links the Egyptian position on Rafah to its frustration with Hamas, which has been in control of Gaza since the summer of 2007. Egyptian calculations, the same source suggested, "are much more complicated". "Nobody is denying that what is happening in Gaza is a big humanitarian problem, but there is also a legal aspect that should not be overlooked," he said. According to this and other concerned foreign policy and national security officials, by unilaterally operating the Rafah crossing on a permanent basis Egypt would be de facto taking responsibility for the survival of the Strip that is technically, according to international law, the responsibility of Israel as an occupying power. "Even if Israel has relocated its troops to the borders of the Strip, Gaza remains occupied. As such it is Israel's responsibility, and if Egypt were to accept the charge of this responsibility it would do great harm to the chances -- limited as they seem to be -- of the Palestinian people to have an independent state on Gaza and the West Bank," the Egyptian source said. The analysis that Cairo's officials defend draws parallels between the problem of Gaza and that of the Palestinian refugees. "The reason that Arab countries have refused to naturalise Palestinian refugees is simple: keep the cause standing, rather than diluting and ending the problem. Today, Gazans are suffering and we are not denying it, but it is better to sustain suffering than to lose a cause," one source argued. For Egyptian officials, "it is easy and of no political or other consequence" for Nasrallah or others, "especially in Iran" (the strongest ally of Hizbullah), to make political statements that call for the unilateral opening of Rafah. "This is about scoring political points internally. However, Egypt is not interested and will not be pressured by these statements, or for that matter demonstrations," commented one source. Cairo has been recently coming under political pressure from Iran, Hamas and Hizbullah to agree to a unilateral opening of its side of Rafah, the only non- Israeli controlled gateway for Gazans to the outer world. For their part, Egyptian authorities have been firm in insisting that Palestinian national reconciliation -- which Cairo is attempting to sponsor -- has to bare fruit first. "We told Hamas directly that there is nothing that anybody could say or do that would force us to change our position on this matter," stated an Egyptian official, who declined to be named. Egypt, sources argue, "took note of the carefully worded appeal that Nasrallah made" and while the appeal itself was not well received in official Egyptian quarters, its tone, which officials say differed from previous hostile tones, was judged as "reflective of a clear awareness on the part of Hizbullah of the right way to address Egypt". Cairo was, however, angered by chants made recently in the Iranian capital by angry demonstrators who bluntly accused Egypt of starving Gazans to death. These, too, were shrugged off by Egypt. "These demonstrations and their language of anti-Egyptian sentiment, which has been used in some quarters of the Iranian press, will not force us to change our positions," an Egyptian official stated. He added: "We know how to react to such Iranian attacks." The Egyptian Foreign Ministry recently summoned Iranian diplomats in Cairo to express its "deep frustration and total rejection" of the attacks that Iranian demonstrators launched against Cairo and its leadership. "We made it very clear that such attacks cannot be overlooked and if not suspended they would prompt an angry -- even if contained -- Egyptian reaction," the source added. According to informed sources, Iranian diplomats in Cairo are denying any state association with the recent demonstrations that targeted Egypt's mission and Saudi facilities as well. However, the Egyptian delegation in Gaza assesses the situation otherwise. For its security personnel and diplomats, the recent wave of demonstrations is clearly and directly orchestrated by the Tehran regime. "It is true, we know, that the objective is for the right-wing politicians in Iran to come across as very harsh, especially in the lead up to upcoming legislative elections, but still they should have found another way [to conduct] their campaign," suggested one source who asked for anonymity. According to this and other concerned officials, the demonstrations of the past few weeks staged in Tehran against Egypt's policies and politicians are only likely to roughen an already tough diplomatic endeavour that diplomats on both sides have been undertaking to ease political relations between the two countries. Egyptian- Iranian relations were severed by Tehran in the late 1970s, in the wake of the Iranian Islamic revolution. All attempts at rapprochement since have failed, largely due to Iran's refusal to hand over Islamist militants, including five accused of direct involvement in the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar El-Sadat. For its part, Tehran is uncomfortable with what it perceives as close Egyptian-Israeli cooperation despite Israel's violations of Arab and Islamic rights. Officials on both sides admit that the key issues are security and religion. If Egypt were to receive the wanted Islamic militants kept in Tehran, and if Cairo was to accept the wish of Tehran to send more Shias to visit holy sites in Egypt, the problem might be contained. But recently Egypt and Iran have also been at loggerheads over other issues, especially Hamas in Gaza. Concerned Egyptian officials complain over the influence that Iran is exercising in Gaza and over Hizbullah in Lebanon, all with Syria's "complicity". However, the same officials argue that Egypt has not lost Gaza to Iran, and that Egypt maintains channels of communication with both Hamas and Hizbullah. "For example, Egypt is working hard with Hamas to secure the extension of the truce with Israel that is due to expire on 19 December," commented an informed source. Egyptian and Iranian officials argue that despite mutual frustration there are no plans on either side to embrace confrontation. (see Editorial p.12)
