Thirty years of peace

This year is the Thirtieth anniversary of the signing of the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt, perhaps one of the most important achievements of the Jewish State. Overall the Treaty has achieved it's main objective, since there has been no war or conflict between Egypt and Israel since the signing, it has stood the test of time. However, it has been called a "cold peace" that emphasizes that a large proportion of the Egyptian population still consider Israel an enemy. In Israel there was a public Symposium discussing the Treaty and its implications, at which the Egyptian Ambassador spoke, but refused to answer any questions. In Egypt there was no commemoration or celebration of the anniversary at all, and in Al Ahram, the Government-controlled main newspaper, the editorial today was avidly anti-Israel. If the current regime were ever overthrown by a pro-Muslim Brotherhood coup then there is little doubt that they would rescind the Treaty.
It was reported on CBS news yesterday that the IAF attacked a convoy of trucks in Sudan carrying weapons from Iran to Gaza. Sudan is governed by an Islamist regime that allows Iran to ship arms to their ports and then they are trucked to Gaza. It was reported to have destroyed 17 trucks and resulted in the death of 39 people. Note that Israel probably decided that it was better to interdict and destroy this convoy in Sudan rather than en route in Egypt. Although Egypt has signed agreements to stop the smuggling of arms thru their border with Gaza, this has hardly helped. Several countries agreed to help the Egyptians stop the flow, by giving them advanced equipment, such as tunnel detecting technology and training their personnel. But, this does not seem to have worked. In order not to embarrass the "friendly" Egyptian Government, the Israeli Govt. decided to attack the convoy in Sudan rather than Egypt. Although the Israel Govt. has not confirmed this attack, PM OLmert noted that the IAF has a long-enough reach to defend the State where ever necessary.
Meanwhile Egypt has been playing the role of intermediary both between Israel and Hamas and Hamas and Fatah. So far neither of these negotiations have resulted in an agreement. But, this weekend, before the Olmert Government is replaced, there are reports that a breakthrough in the negotiations over the prisoner exhange for Cpl. Schalit may have been reached. This may result from the fact that all negotiations will probably return to square one with the new Netanyahu-led Government. At least at this point Hamas can be fairly certain of obtaining about 400 of the prisoners they wanted, if they are willing to compromise.