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Egypt’s
Muslim Brotherhood has blamed Mossad, the Israeli spy agency, for a terrorist
attack that killed 16 Egyptian soldiers in Sinai on Sunday night. The act had
further escalated tensions between the formerly allied nations.
The
group’s official website posted that the attack “can be attributed to Mossad,
which has been seeking to abort the revolution since its inception,” and went
on to claim that that act was an attempt to cast a shadow on the administration
of President Mohamed Morsi.
Morsi, who left the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party shortly after having been elected president, has not yet commented on the Brotherhood's remarks.
Meanwhile,
Israel denies the claims, likewise pointing the finger at Hamas, which denies
the accusations as well.
The
blame game follows Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak's comments that the
attack should serve as a “wake-up call” to the new Egyptian president about
growing volatility in the Sinai Peninsula.
Israel
has long accused Egypt of losing its grip over the area.
The
16 Egyptian soldiers were killed after militants attacked a checkpoint along
the border with Israel late Sunday night.
The
attackers then drove their vehicles through a security fence and onto Israel
territory, but the assault was quickly ended by an Israeli airstrike that
killed at least eight of the militants.
It
was one of the deadliest attacks to take place in the region in years – the
Sinai border has been mostly quiet since Israel and Egypt signed a peace
agreement three decades ago.
The
escalation comes just five days after Tel Aviv announced that it had received a
letter from Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, which reportedly outlined the
new president’s desire to work jointly with Israel on getting the Middle East
peace process back on track.
But
according to his spokesman, Morsi never wrote such a letter.
And
with the spotlight back on the Sinai Peninsula in recent days, many are
wondering whether there is reason to believe that the key agreement between
Egypt and Israel, known as the Camp David Accords, is under threat.
The
treaty was signed in 1978, and limits the number of troops Egypt can place in
the peninsula, as well as their movements.
The
attack is the first security challenge for Morsi, who took office in June.
Morsi’s
predecessor Hosni Mubarak worked closely with Israel on matters relating to
Sinai, but it remains unclear whether that will continue under Egypt's new
leadership.
Eric
Draitser, a geopolitical analyst at Stopimperialism.org, believes the attack in
Sinai works to Israel's benefit.
The
attack allows Israel to continue subjecting the Palestinian people to egregious
violations of international law, as a threat from the Sinai Peninsula gives
Israel a reason to continue isolating and ghettoizing the Gaza Strip, he told
RT. “To legitimize their attacks on Palestinians, they have to have an enemy.
The enemy can’t be the weak and defenseless Palestinians, it has to be
extremists in Sinai.”
The
aim of those behind the attack is to destroy whatever cooperation that does
exists as a remnant of Mubarak-era Egyptian-Israeli treaties, he states.
Draitser
also believes that despite unambiguous anti-Israeli rhetoric, Egypt’s Muslim
Brotherhood is in fact playing right along with the West and international
institutions. “They’ve paid lip service to anti-Zionists in Egypt while at the
same time they court the IMF, the World Bank… they court a lot of Western
institutions. Israel is an easy scapegoat for them.”
The
Muslim Brotherhood is in fact “bought and paid for just as the Israelis are,”
he concludes.
(rt)
Midly edited by PCF Web desk
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