MK Shteinitz: Egypt May Be Planning a Pan-Arab Attack
by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz Arutz Sheva Thursday, 26 April, 2007

Even as an Egyptian delegation has brought a supposed ceasefire offer from
Palestinian Authority terrorist factions to Israeli officials, Knesset
Member Yuval Shteinitz (Likud) warns that Egypt's strategy is to drain IDF
energy and resources by quietly promoting continued fighting with PA
terrorists. In fact, Shteinitz warns, it is not unreasonable to assume that
Egypt is planning for another pan-Arab attack on the Jewish State.

According to the message conveyed to Israel on Thursday by an Egyptian
delegation of military officials, which met with terrorist leaders in Gaza,
the armed PA factions would agree to a new "calm" (tahadeya) provided Israel
cease all counter-terrorist activities in PA-controlled territories in
Judea, Samaria and Gaza. The supposed offer from PA terrorist groups comes
in the wake of intimations by Israeli officials that a large IDF operation
in Gaza is in the offing. No PA faction has publicly admitted to agreeing to
the Egyptian formula and there has been a steep increase in rocket attacks
on Jewish towns in the Negev in recent days.

One of the Egyptian envoys, Burhan Hammad, "informed the Israelis of the new
commitment by the [PA] factions and at same time stressed that factions
demanded the calm be reciprocal and simultaneous," according to a source
quoted by Reuters.

MK Shteinitz, a former head of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee,
said Wednesday that the covert Egyptian strategy is to facilitate continued
fighting between Israel and PA-based Arab terrorists. To that end, Shteinitz
charged, Egyptian forces are allowing continued smuggling of weapons and men
from Sinai into Gaza. Egypt is not afraid of an Arab terrorist entity in
Gaza, Shteinitz explained, which Egyptian leaders believe will serve to
weaken the IDF.

The Likud MK further claimed that Egypt is cooperating with Syria and Iran
in an anti-Israel coalition. Furthermore, Shteinitz did not reject the
possibility that Egypt is currently planning a pan-Arab attack against
Israel. The possibility is particularly worrisome due to the weakness of the
current government, he said, which he believes is the weakest government in
30 years.

In an interview with Arutz-7 on Wednesday, MK Shteinitz said that Israel
must ignore pleas for a ceasefire from the PA and launch a large-scale
defensive operation in Gaza, similar to Operation Defensive Shield in 2002.
He called on the government to return the security situation to what it was
before the Oslo Accord agreements by expelling the terrorist leadership of
the PA from the country and retaking control of all areas of Judea and
Samaria.

Any planned Israeli operation, MK Shteinitz emphasized, must also target
senior Hamas officials, such as Ismail Haniyeh, despite their inclusion in
the PA government. As an example, he noted, former Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon isolated Fatah terrorist and former PA leader Yasser Arafat in his
Mukata compound, and even considered expelling him from the country..