New tensions emerged on Tuesday in the already-strained relations of between Egypt and Israel, with arms smuggling and an Israeli soldier's beating of Egyptian journalists grabbing the spotlight.
First, Israeli defense officials announced that they suspected Egyptian police officers of being involved in smuggling arms across the border to the Palestinian Authority border town of Rafah, reported Haaretz newspaper.
The sources claimed in a statement to the daily that Egyptian border patrols and police were involved in the smuggling, either by turning a blind eye or by actively helping the smugglers.
“Officers could offer help out of ideological sympathy with the Palestinian cause, but this is not the principal reason - there is speculation that the motivation is cash bribes,” they said.
However, Israeli officials stressed that more senior members of the Egyptian security forces were helping Israel foil such smuggling, said the paper.
Israelis say that some of the smugglers' tunnels - presumably dug by Palestinians - run up to 12 meters below ground and the Israeli army is having great difficulty exposing them.
The army found and blocked six tunnels in a recent large-scale engineering operation in the area.
Some 20 such tunnels are thought to be used at any one time for smuggling arms and people, including those on Israel's wanted list, said the report.
Despite a 22-year-old peace treaty between Egypt and the Jewish state, bilateral relations have witnessed tension since the outbreak of the Intifada. Cairo has refused to send an envoy to Tel Aviv since it withdrew its envoy to protest against Israel's excessive use of force to suppress the Palestinian uprising.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told Israel’s Channel 2 earlier this week that anti-Israeli sentiment among his people was caused by Israel spreading rumors about his country, and threats by right-wing officials to attack Egypt.
Meanwhile, the Jerusalem Post reported on Tuesday, footage of an Egyptian journalist and his cameraman being beaten by an Israeli soldier Monday was broadcast across the Middle East, further damaging Israel's image.
The incident took place near a roadblock at Kalandiya outside occupied Jerusalem. Tarek Abdel Jaber of Egyptian TV and his cameraman were reporting on the situation when a reserve soldier demanded that they leave the area. There was no operational reason to bar journalists or filming, said the Post.
The Egyptians moved away, but the soldier followed and started yelling at them. The cameraman then turned the camera on the incident and captured the event on film.
"The soldier came up to Jaber who was standing near the roadblock. He took out his journalist's identity card issued by the Government Press Office and told the soldier he was a reporter," said GPO director Daniel Seaman, who investigated the incident.
"From the video it looks like the soldier simply slapped him in the face and cursed him," Seaman said. "It was disgusting. The army is examining what really happened."
"Later the soldier approached the cameraman and he lowered his lens. Then you hear curses and the soldier knocked him down and kicked him in his testicles, causing him to hemorrhage."
Seaman said the cameraman, Abdel-Nasser Abdoun, was hospitalized at Hadassah-University Hospital, Ein Kerem, adding that the foreign ministry would foot the bill.
Both Egyptian journalists are permanently based in Israel.
Sources claim that Jaber had “orchestrated” the incident. Nevertheless, journalists themselves have documented numerous cases of intimidation, abuse and even shootings by Israeli troops and Jewish settlers.
Recently, the correspondent of Abu Dhabi satellite channel, Laila Oudeh, was shot in the leg in Gaza, and the Israeli army had to apologize for the attack – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
