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For weeks, talk show hosts and newspaper columnists across Egypt’s government-controlled media have been saying in unison that any Israeli “occupation” of the Philadelphia Corridor, a buffer zone along the Egypt-Gaza border, would likely constitute a violation of Egyptian sovereignty and national security — another blow to relations between the two countries, which have already been pushed to their lowest point in decades by Israel’s military offensive in southern Gaza.
But when the Israeli military announced last week that it had seized “tactical control” of the corridor, the same government mouthpieces were quick to say that the border area had nothing to do with Egypt; no mention was made of sovereignty.
It was the latest sign that Cairo is still trying to preserve its relationship with Israel, with which Egypt has valuable military and intelligence cooperation against insurgents and from which the United States receives billions of dollars in aid and natural gas imports.
For Israel, the so-called “cold peace” with Egypt, which has lasted for more than four decades, has proven to be a vital pillar of national security. The alliance has provided Israel with a path to better relations with its Muslim neighbors, paved the way for normalization of relations with more countries, and made it an increasingly integral part of the regional anti-Iran axis.
Yet Israel still risks upsetting that delicate balance by saying it needs to take control of the Philadelphia Corridor and destroy dozens of tunnels beneath the border that it says enable Hamas to smuggle weapons into the strip — despite Egypt’s claims to have stopped the smuggling years ago.
In recent weeks, the Israeli military advance toward southern Gaza and the city of Rafah has put severe strain on relations between the two countries, raising questions about how far Israel will go in insisting on full control of the border area and how much Egypt can tolerate a continued Israeli presence there.
Egypt’s patience with Israel’s military actions is running out, as it has made clear many times. The Egyptian government is not only panicked by the prospect of Gazans fleeing the fighting in Rafah crossing the border into Egypt, but is also determined to show the public that Egypt is standing up to Israel, which most Egyptians still view as an enemy despite a 45-year-old peace treaty.
Cairo has registered to speak in support of South Africa's case at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza. It has also warned that Israel is undermining the peace treaty reached between the two countries in 1979, which stems from the well-known Camp David Accords.
Although Egypt has condemned Israel for cutting off humanitarian aid to Gaza, the country itself has temporarily blocked aid trucks from leaving its territory, where most aid is gathered before being trucked into the Palestinian Strip. The move is aimed at forcing Israel to withdraw from the Rafah crossing, which was the main channel for the transportation of aid and other supplies during the war and is located between Egypt and Gaza, but was recently occupied by Israel, sparking anger among Egyptians.
Egypt has refrained from taking tougher measures in response to Israel's moves, such as withdrawing its ambassador from Tel Aviv, and the government-run news media appears to have struggled to contain public anger.
Ahmed Moussa, a well-known talk show host, wrote in his column in Egypt's flagship daily Al-Ahram on May 17: “Egypt is ready to deal with all situations and will not allow any direct or indirect violation of its sovereignty and national security.”
However, when Israel occupied the corridor last Wednesday, Moussa went on television and lashed out at social media users who said Egypt appeared weak by allowing the occupation. He linked the “accusations” to the Muslim Brotherhood, a political Islamist group that Egypt has long demonized as a terrorist organization and of which Hamas is an offshoot.
“The Philadelphia corridor is not Egyptian territory,” Mr. Moussa insisted in a nine-minute segment on the issue, showing a large map. “This is Palestinian territory. It does not belong to us. Let me show you our borders.”
Isabel Kerzner Contributed reporting.
