'Israel may rule out deals if Egypt changes treaty'

Deputy PM Meridor says an Egyptian decision to alter agreement would make J'lem question signing future accords.

By HERB KEINON
Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor 311 (R) (photo credit: David W Cerny / Reuters)
Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor 311 (R)
(photo credit: David W Cerny / Reuters)
If Cairo unilaterally decides to alter the peace treaty with Jerusalem, Israel will ask why sign agreements with other neighbors if these accords are not kept, Intelligence Agencies Minister Dan Meridor said Monday.
Meridor, speaking at a press conference organized by The Israel Project, said that “objectively” there is no reason for either Israel or Egypt to change the peace agreement that has served both sides for more than 30 years.
“If people are rational and act for the good of their country, both Israel and Egypt should keep the agreement,” Meridor said. Meridor added that Israel has had no contact with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, the party that won the recent parliamentary elections there.
Regarding Syria, Meridor came out strongly against the killing taking place there, saying the pictures coming out of that country needed to shock the world, and that it was impossible to remain silent in face of the atrocities.
But at the same time, he said, Israel had “no policy” in terms of trying to effect what was happening inside the country.
“We can’t do much to interfere inside Syria,” he said, adding that he had no way of telling who would come after Prime Minister Bashar Assad if he was toppled.
Meridor said Iran and Hezbollah were actively helping Assad try to put down the rebellion there, and that breaking up the Iran-Syrian- Hezbollah alliance would be a “positive” development.
“Can we affect it?” he asked. “No we can’t.”
Regarding the halted low-level talks with the Palestinians in Jordan, Meridor bemoaned the Palestinian Authority’s decision to sign a unity agreement with Hamas in Doha. He called on PA Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to demonstrate the “courage” to accept a demilitarized Palestinian state, and that if he did not, it would be “another missed opportunity that will be bad for us, but worse for them.”
Meridor repeated his position – which is not the government’s policy – that Israel should “harmonize” its settlement policy with the diplomatic process, meaning that it should build in the large settlement blocs that it hopes to retain in any future agreement, but not build everywhere else in Judea and Samaria.