Though Egypt and Israel signed a lasting peace treaty thirty years ago the two countries have yet to normalize their relations by exhibiting trust and friendship between governments.
Israeli officials interested in enhancing their legitimacy in the Middle East are typically more concerned over this than their Egyptian counterparts. At Israel's urging American officials often encourage the Egyptian government to enhance and publicize its relationship with Israel. But usually Egyptian leaders say thanks but no thanks to publicized meetings and state visits. They likely lack the desire and certainly lack the domestic support for cozying up to Israel, which continues to punish Palestinians in Gaza and construct settlements in the West Bank.
But we should not lose sight of the fact that Egypt and Israel do share goals and do work together to achieve them, when they have to. Right now both are concerned with the situation in Gaza. Omar Suleiman, the chief of Egypt's General Intelligence Services (Egypt's CIA), has been leading an initiative to negotiate the release of Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit, who has been held hostage by Hamas for over three years. Suleiman has also been trying to reconcile Palestinian factions. He has traveled to Israel to discuss both of these initiatives, and last week Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak paid a visit to Egyptian President Husni Mubarak in Alexandria. At the working levels, Israeli military officials announced yesterday that they are coordinating the deportation of illegal African immigrants to Egypt with their Egyptian counterparts.
The security services usually lead the way when it comes to rebuilding difficult relationships. These interactions have the ability to develop trust and confidence between leaderships and individuals. As neighbors, Egypt and Israel are no exception because they have no choice.
