Close ranks

By Salama A Salama

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Finally, President Hosni Mubarak gave us the low down on the Rafah Crossing business. It is not up to Egypt to open it when it wants. Under existing agreements, Israel is in control of the crossing. And in the few cases when Egypt allowed it to open in the past, it did so with Israel's permission. A clear and concise explanation, and not a minute too early.

Protesters who railed against Egypt from coast to coast didn't know that. The impression in the Arab street was that Egypt had control of the Rafah Crossing. It is an impression that Egypt allowed to take root, and it has come back to haunt us.

Egyptian diplomacy has made another error. It should have sought international guarantees before mediating between the Palestinians and Israel. It should have had assurances from world powers that Israel would keep its word. It failed to do so, and now it is taking all the blame.

The fact is, Israel has been waiting to strike at Gaza. Its three major parties have all been dying to pulverise Hamas. And Tzipi Livni's visit to Cairo was but a smokescreen for the current carnage. Hamas may be trying to put a brave face on it, but it is in a much worse position than that of Hizbullah during the 2006 war.

Now protesters across the Arab world are blaming Egypt for the mess. Egypt is being demonised for not helping enough, even for conspiring against the Palestinians. None of this is true. But Egypt is guilty on one count. It failed to bring its point across.

To add insult to injury, Egypt is now tempted to answer name calling in kind. Soon we will be accusing certain Arab countries of mucking up things for us. Soon we will be naming villains who want to isolate us. None of this is going to help. Who says that the Arabs want to push Egypt into a confrontation with Israel? Who says that Cairo is a step away of being isolated?

Let's forget about the bickering for a moment and think of what really matters. For example, have Arab ministers done enough to help Gaza? Have the negotiations President Mahmoud Abbas has been holding with Israel been of any help? And why has Israel rejected the Arab peace initiative?

It is easy to claim that Iran, Syria, Hizbullah, Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood are the source of all evils. It is easy to accuse Qatar of wanting to upstage Egypt. We've heard it all before. We heard it during the 2006 war in Lebanon. We even heard that Syria was playing lackey for the Iranians and has nothing better to do than divide the Palestinians.

We all know that Israel is the only beneficiary of the current situation. Israel will do what it takes to bring down Hamas, and Palestinian casualties are the last things on its mind.

The Palestinians and the Arabs can scream all they want. They can fight among themselves, and none of it is going to help. If you need any further proof that we're barking up the wrong tree, listen to this. The EU has called Israel's ground assault "self- defence". I rest my case.

Egypt is being maligned. That is a fact. It is also a fact that Egypt has a certain responsibility to step into. And its first task should be to close Arab ranks and make the Palestinians understand that their unity is not a luxury, but rather a matter of life and death. This is what Egypt should be doing, instead of trading insults.