How does Israel intend to jeopardise Egypt’s security with its aggressive campaign against the Palestinians?

Written by Elijah J. Magnier:

It’s now abundantly clear that tensions between Egypt and Israel have escalated significantly. Cairo has issued a definitive statement declaring that Israel’s attempts to transfer Palestinians into Sinai forcibly are unacceptable and constitute a violation of a vital border. Egypt stresses that this move not only endangers its national security but also challenges its sovereignty. The Egyptian government, which has the means to protect its land and security, views these actions as a direct threat. Since the beginning of the conflict, Israel has expressed its intention to transfer the population of Gaza to Sinai, a plan that Egypt is fully aware of and which it attributes to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s broader ambition to remove Palestinians from Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem. This raises concerns about other possible actions being planned against Egypt, not just the Palestinian people.

British documents have revealed that in 1971, Israel formulated a secret strategy to expel thousands of Palestinians from Gaza to Al-Arish in northern Sinai. Following the June 1967 war, in which the Israeli military took control of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan Heights, Gaza became a significant security challenge for Israel. The densely populated refugee camps in Gaza became centres of resistance to the occupation. According to British assessments, the Israeli plan involved the ‘forced transfer’ of Palestinians to Egypt to reduce the intensity of the guerrilla war and alleviate the security dilemmas faced by the Israeli occupation authorities in Gaza. This revelation sheds light on Israel’s historical perspective on forced deportations.

The proposed forced transfer of Palestinians to Sinai is seen as a violation of international law, including norms relating to the treatment of civilians in conflict and the prohibition of forced displacement. In 2010, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proposed that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak – who rejected the offer – set the Palestinians in the Sinai peninsula. In 2017, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry rejected calls by Israeli Social Equality Minister Gila Gamliel, a Likud lawmaker, to use Sinai for a Palestinian state, saying Egypt had made its position on the issue clear to the Israeli ambassador in Cairo. Since 8 October, the Egyptian presidency has issued a statement that was followed by a clear position from President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi strongly opposing the