Egypt dismisses Lieberman's warning of war

Israel Beiteinu chair: Israel "acting like battered woman;" Barak: Comments made "without authority."

By BRENDA GAZZAR
Lieberman makes point 224 88 aj (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimksi [file])
Lieberman makes point 224 88 aj
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimksi [file])
Egyptian government officials and political experts dismissed comments made over the weekend by Israel Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman that suggested that Cairo is merely waiting for an opportunity to start a war with Israel. However, they acknowledged that Lieberman's comments have raised ire among government officials. "Is he taken seriously? No," an Egyptian government official, who asked to remain anonymous, told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday. "Does he cause anger? Yes." In a Saturday interview broadcast on Channel 2, Lieberman said that Egypt "is waiting for the right moment to deploy its army in the Sinai in defiance of the peace agreements... There are enough signs and enough estimations that the Egyptians are just waiting for their window of opportunity." Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the statements were made without authority and called them "an unjustified blow to the fragile and important web of relations with Egypt." An article in the pan-Arab Internet newspaper Moheet referred to Lieberman's comments on Sunday as "a new show of audacity added to [Lieberman's] audaciousness." But the article also said that "Lieberman is one of the most extreme right-wingers in Israel" and that "he is known for his hostile positions towards Arabs in Israel and towards the Palestinian people." It also mentioned that the Israeli press indicates that such comments were made in the framework of the current election campaign being waged ahead of the February 10 elections. On Wednesday, Lieberman criticized Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for not visiting Israel on an official visit. "If he wants to talk to us, he should come here; if he doesn't want to come here, he can go to hell," he said. Prof. Gamal Abdel Gawad, head of the international relations unit of the Cairo-based al-Ahram Center for Strategic and Political Studies, said while "no one takes [Lieberman] seriously and we are getting used to these kinds of comments from him, definitely, it's not a positive thing… It hurts the relationship" between Egypt and Israel. His comments "are manipulated by the radicals" in the country, he said, who argue that Egypt should not "continue abiding by these nice relations" with Israel. However, on the other hand, "we know that there are fanatic and extremist politicians everywhere, including Israel… And this is part of the political game."