Egypt's dilemma

The Egyptian FM Aboul Gheit has issued a threat not to meet with the new Israeli FM, Avigdor Lieberman, and not to allow him to enter Egypt, even though they are prepared to deal with the new Israeli Government itself. This is because during the election campaign Lieberman is supposed to have insulted Pres. Mubarak of Egypt, when in response to a reporter's question as to why Mubarak has never visited Israel in all these years, he said that if he won't visit Israel "he can go to hell." He also siad that in the event of a war with Egypt, Israel would destroy the Aswan Dam. Certainly this is undiplomatic language, and certainly it is typical of Lieberman's gruff persona. But, there is more to this Egyptian response than meets the eye.
Remember that recently Egypt has been embroiled in a public dispute with Hizbollah, claiming that Sheikh Nasrullah is an agent of Iran trying to topple the Egyptian Government and replace it with a pro-Iranian Islamist regime. Within the Arab world there have traditionally been three major power bases, Cairo, Damascus and Baghdad, that have been vying with each other for predominant influence in the Arab world. Currently, in view of the decline of Damascus and Baghdad, Cairo is recovering it's former place as center of Arab culture and influence. Now into the picture pops a former enemy and non-Arab center, namely Shi'ite Teheran.
There has always been a clash between the Arabs and the Persians, and since Persia became the center for Shi'ite Islam, there has always been a clash between Sunni and Shia. So now to have this non-Arab, Persian Shia center vying for power in the Arab world is extremely disconcerting for the Egyptian Government. They face a continuous internal threat from the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, that emerged in Egypt in the mid-1930s and since then has spawned al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia and Hamas in Palestinian Gaza. The fact that Hamas is an ally of both Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood (seemingly incompatible forces) has Mubarak very concerned. But, what unites these two forces is their common enmity to Israel and the West. So in order not to lose the support of the large proportion of Egyptians who are also anti-Israel and anti-Western, Mubarak has to find something, an issue, that shows that he is not now automatically on the Israeli/Western side. One way to do that is to manufacture a clash with the new Israeli Government, and the "insult" of FM Lieberman provides just such an issue.
Of course, it would be very difficult if the Israeli FM remained persona non grata in Cairo. But, I think we shall see a mechanism emerge for overcoming this obstacle, a deus ex machina that will appear from the wings to resolve the situation, such as a partial apology by Lieberman (he was misunderstood) or a discussion between Mubarak and Netanyahu to smooth things over. The great thing about Israel as far as Cairo is concerned is that although it is another power base, it is not "in" the Arab world and so does not vie for influence with Cairo, indeed recent Israeli Governments have gone to great lengths to show deference to Mubarak. So Mubarak is trying to solve his problem, he is on the horns of a dilemma, in a clash with Hizbollah, Iran and Hamas, he is also desperately trying to appear not to be an ally of Israel.