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For weeks, Egyptian government-controlled talk show hosts and newspaper columnists have been saying the same thing: An Israeli “occupation” of the Philadelphia Corridor, the buffer zone on the Egypt-Gaza border, could constitute a violation of Egyptian sovereignty and national security, and would deal a further blow to relations already at their lowest in decades due to Israel's military offensive in southern Gaza.
But when the Israeli army announced last week that it had assumed “tactical control” of the corridor, the same government agency was quick to say the border area had nothing to do with Egypt, making no mention of sovereignty.
It is the latest sign that Cairo continues to protect its ties with Israel, which have generated valuable military and intelligence cooperation with Egyptian rebels, billions of dollars in aid from the United States and imports of Israeli natural gas.
For Israel, its more than four decades of so-called “cold peace” with Egypt has also proven to be a vital pillar of its national security. The alliance has given Israel a path to better relations with its Muslim neighbors, paving the way for normalization of relations with more countries and making Israel an increasingly integral part of the region's anti-Iranian axis.
Still, Israel risked upsetting a delicate balance by arguing it needed to seize the Philadelphia Corridor to destroy dozens of tunnels under the border that allegedly allowed Hamas to smuggle weapons into northern Syria, even though Egypt has publicly said it had stopped the smuggling several years ago.
Israeli military incursions into southern Gaza and the city of Rafah in recent weeks have seriously strained relations between the two countries, raising questions about the extent to which Israel will insist on full control over the border areas and to what extent Egypt will tolerate an Israeli presence.
Egypt's patience with Israeli military action is reaching dangerously low points, as it has repeatedly made clear. Not only is the government panicking at the possibility of Gazans fleeing the fighting in Rafah crossing the border into Egypt, it is also determined to show its people that it will stand up to Israel, which most Egyptians still see as an enemy despite a peace treaty signed 45 years ago.
Cairo has registered its support for a South African lawsuit at the International Court of Justice that accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, and has also warned that Israel is endangering the 1979 peace treaty between the two countries that was born out of an agreement known as the Camp David Accords.
Egypt, which has criticised Israel for cutting off humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, has temporarily halted the flow of aid trucks from where most of the supplies are collected on Egyptian territory before being trucked to the Palestinian area in an attempt to pressure Israel to withdraw from the Rafah border crossing. The crossing, which was the main route for aid and other supplies during the war and lies between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, was recently occupied by Israel, sparking public anger in Egypt.
Egypt has refrained from taking more serious measures in response to Israel's move, such as withdrawing its ambassador from Tel Aviv, and its government-controlled news media appears to be cooperating in efforts to quell public anger.
Egypt is “prepared for all scenarios and will never tolerate any infringement, direct or indirect, on its sovereignty and national security,” prominent talk show host Ahmed Moussa wrote in a column in Egypt's main daily newspaper, Al-Ahram, on May 17.
But when Israel seized the corridor last Wednesday, Moussa went on television to blast social media users who said it made Egypt look weak by allowing the occupation. He linked the “suspicions” to the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamic political group that Egypt has long demonized as a terrorist organization. Hamas is an offshoot of the Brotherhood.
“The Philadelphia Corridor is not Egyptian territory,” Moussa argued during a nine-minute segment on the issue, holding up a giant map. “It's Palestinian territory. It's not ours. Let me show you our borders.”
Isabel Kirshner Contributed report.