Egyptian-Israeli relations will endure a recent Israeli affront, Dina Ezzat reports "I think we should call back our ambassador and throw out their ambassador. These people hate us and they don't want peace with us," said Hassan, a Cairo taxi driver. Hassan was commenting on an affront directed by Israeli parliamentarian Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the Yisrael Beitenu ("Israel is our home" Party, to President Hosni Mubarak over the president's reluctance to visit Israel. "If Mubarak does not want to come to Israel then he can go to hell," Lieberman said to the shock of official and public quarters in Egypt. "Let them go to hell. This is what we should tell them: 'You go to hell, all of you!'" Hassan added. Not that Hassan is a strong supporter of the Egyptian president. On the contrary, he is unsatisfied with the prevailing economic conditions that are forcing him, though a civil servant "with a university degree", to work extra time as a taxi driver to make ends meet. "But this is different. We criticise the president. But no Israeli has the right to criticise the president of Egypt." Hassan is far from alone in having been infuriated by Lieberman's affront. Egyptians of different political and socio-economic backgrounds who spoke to Al-Ahram Weekly all expressed fury over Lieberman's statements. However, it is official Egypt's mild reaction that many find more disturbing. Cairo -- it seems -- is deliberately choosing to shrug Lieberman's insult, beyond the remarks of a Foreign Ministry spokesman to an Israeli daily where he qualified Lieberman as an "ill mannered" man whose statements are simply not worth replying to. "What does this mean? What is worth replying to? A man insults the head of the state and they tell us he is not worth replying to?" said Nagwa, a Heliopolis housewife. Like Hassan, Nagwa is convinced that "the least" Cairo could have done was to recall Egypt's ambassador to Israel. "If we don't show our anger when a symbol of the state is insulted, when would we do so?" Nagwa asked. Arab diplomats in Cairo have also expressed "shock" and "surprise" over the official reaction of ignoring Lieberman's statements. "Egypt is a leading Arab nation. When it is insulted the entire Arab world is insulted," commented one Arab diplomat. He added that it is in this Arab capacity, "if not just for national pride," that Cairo should have reacted "firmly". By not reacting to Lieberman's statement, Arab diplomats who spoke to the Weekly assert, Cairo might in fact be encouraging this and other Israeli politicians to publicly lambaste Arab leaders. Egyptian officials argue otherwise. Cairo, they explain, is not in the business of giving credit to Lieberman's statements by officially commenting on them. Moreover, they argue, every senior Israeli official, including the Israeli president, prime minister and the parliament speaker, expressed clear and announced apologies to President Mubarak personally for the statements of Lieberman. This far- right Israeli politician is known for his anti- Egyptian sentiments. Throughout the past decade, Lieberman has publicly attacked Egypt and threatened hostility. In one of his infamous statements, he threatened to destroy the High Dam. "It is not the first time that he attacks Egypt; nor is he the only Israeli politician who attacks Egypt or other Arab states," commented a senior government official who asked for his name to be withheld. According to this official, however, Egyptian reactions are "not impulsive or emotional". "The president is very careful in his calculations. If he recalls his ambassador today at this particular time of intense Egyptian involvement in Palestinian-Israeli negotiations over a deal to release Palestinian prisoners and reduce the stifling sanctions imposed by Israel on Gaza, then our role would be undermined," he explained. President Mubarak has often said that the presence of ambassadors on both sides is necessary for otherwise limited communications between the two governments who, whether they like it or not, have to jointly manage many regional issues. However, during his 28 years in office, Mubarak has declined to officially visit Israel. This despite repeated Israeli appeals and US pressure. It was only when former Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in 1995 that Mubarak briefly participated in his funeral along with many world leaders. Mubarak insists that he would only visit Israel when a peaceful settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian struggle is concluded. It was almost 30 years ago that Egypt and Israel signed their peace agreement. However, during these past three decades -- and to the endless complaints of Israelis over the "unrewarding" peace with Egypt -- relations between the two countries have been at best cold. "It is not like we have very warm relations. Our relations, at the official level, are very formalistic and the trade relations are not significant. Other than that, there is not much," said the senior government official. Next Saturday, Egypt is going to play host to an international meeting on the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations. In Sharm El-Sheikh, Palestinian and Israeli senior officials will brief members of the International Quartet (the US, Russia, EU and the UN) on the outcome of their negotiations over the past year to reach a final status agreement. President Mubarak, sources say, is not excluding a meeting with senior members of both delegations. "Egypt's role as a key player in the Arab-Israeli peace process is something that the president has often dedicated much time and effort to," said the senior government official. On Friday, Egyptian national dailies printed a transcription of an interview that the president accorded to Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot. In the interview, President Mubarak reiterated his commitment to support Palestinian-Israeli talks over a prisoner swap deal that would allow for the release of a few hundred Palestinian prisoners in return for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit captured in June 2006 by an Islamist resistance Palestinian movement loyal to Hamas. Mubarak also spoke clearly of Egypt's support for the peace process and insisted that concluding peace agreements between Israel and Palestinians and the rest of Israel's Arab neighbours would allow for normal Arab-Israeli relations and both sides to enjoy the fruits of peace. "But where are the fruits of peace when they insult us for nothing other than not wanting to visit them?" asked Hassan, the taxi driver. He added, "Is it not enough that we sell them our natural gas at a very cheap price and that we have their industry and agriculture experts all over the country? What more do they want of us?"
