The festivities marking one year to the anniversary of the signing of the Abraham Accords with the Arab Gulf states are far from over, and on Monday, we learned there was yet another cause for celebration: the first visit by an Israeli prime minister to Egypt in years and the first public meeting with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.
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Add to that Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's visit to Jordan two months ago, and we have three positive events, the importance of which cannot be underestimated. This is particularly true given the bleak Middle Eastern climate of increasing threats to Israel: Iran's race toward nuclear weapons, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the pro-Iranian militias in Syria, as well as Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the south.
Israel's thriving peace with the United Arab Emirates, which is gaining speed by the day, reflects the natural process of the normalization of ties, which were once conducted behind the scenes. Although treaties have been signed, the peace that exists between Israel and Jordan and Egypt, however, is not exactly normal.
The reasons for this are well-known. We do not share a border with the Arab Gulf states, nor have we fought any wars against them. A majority of these states accepted the State of Israel's existence as a legitimate entity in the region and recognized its necessity as the sole power in the region capable of taking on the common enemy of Iran. Peace with Jordan and Egypt, who have gone to war with us, is the result of agreements signed between leaders. In both those countries, deep hatred toward us continues to bubble over.
This anomaly is even more conspicuous when we examine the relationship up close. Coordination on the military-security and intelligence fronts between Israel and Jordan and Egypt is deep and unprecedented. Without a fence or any major ground obstacle, the Jordanian military has succeeded in prevented terrorist infiltrations and drug smuggling along its longest border. In the Sinai Peninsula, Egyptian battalions are deployed along the border to prevent terrorists from firing at the Israeli resort city of Eilat. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to security ties, and they are not unilateral in nature. Egypt, as we know from recent talks on a possible prisoner exchange deal, also plays a crucial role in mediating and relaying messages and warnings between Israel and Hamas.
The broad scope of security coordination between Israel and Egypt [and also Jordan] highlights the near absence of any bilateral cooperation in the civilian arena in what is known as normalization.
While security coordination between Jerusalem and Cairo is stronger than ever, el-Sissi is far more reluctant to normalize ties with Israel in the civilian arena than late President Hosni Mubarak ever was. True, Mubarak only visited Israel twice, but he often hosted Israeli figures and politicians and had his picture taken with them. He also granted many interviews to Israeli media outlets that were broadcast in Egypt. The indirect message he sought to relay to his people was that Israel is a legitimate state and we can talk to Israelis.
El-Sissi, by contrast, rarely meets with Israelis in public and has thus far avoided giving interviews with Israeli media. He is extremely cautious when it comes to the public aspect of bilateral civilian cooperation. Few believe we can forgo the civilian aspect and suffice with security coordination. I think they are wrong, and that we must hope that the very fact Bennett was invited to Egypt to discuss the many issues at hand - as well as the joint photo op against the background of the Israeli flag - are an indication of the beginnings of a shift in the approach of the presidential palace. Absent any genuine attempt to instill the Egyptian people with the understanding Israel is a fait accompli, peace with Egypt will remain abnormal in the future.
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