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Arab/Muslim States

Israeli lawmaker calls on US to punish Egypt


By Stan Goodenough
November 12, 2007

The United States should penalize Egypt to the tune of $200 million annually until that country stops allowing Gaza's Palestinian Arabs to smuggle arms into the strip.

So said Likud Knesset Member Yuval Steinitz in a letter to the US Senate Sunday.

Steinitz is a former chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and co-chairs a joint US-Israeli committee on defense and foreign policy.

According to The Jerusalem Post, Steinitz charged that Egypt effectively condoned Hamas' bloody takeover of the Gaza Strip last June.

Cairo has since stood by and allowed Hamas to build an army, he continued.

"Egypt's de facto behavior in the field supports Hamas," Steinitz wrote.

"As long as Egypt is not required to pay a real price for this behavior, weapons and financial aid will continue to flow into the hands of Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza."

The IDF estimates that Hamas has smuggled 20,000 rifles, 6,000 antitank missiles and 100 tons of explosives into Gaza since last summer.

Egypt had refused to take seriously Israeli recommendations for effectively limiting the weapons' smuggling.

The only conclusion that can be reached, Steinitz wrote, "is that the Egyptians believe that it is in their interest to derail the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians and create an army in the Gaza Strip in order to try and weaken Israel.

"As long as Israel is getting weaker the Egyptians can get stronger."

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