Poziv: “Egipt je partner v genocidu”

Od podpisa mirovnega sporazuma med Izraelom in Egiptom v Camp Davidu pod nadzorom ZDA je minilo 45 let. Z njim je Egipt, ki ga je takrat vodil predsednik Anwar Al-Sadat, odvzel pomembno podporo palestinskemu osvobodilnemu boju, sprejel vlogo izvrševalca mejnega režima, dogovorjenega z Izraelom, in uvedel nadzor nad uvozom v Gazo. Mirovni sporazum je bil podpisan brez Palestincev, vendar je imel nanje velik vpliv. V praksi je pomenil predajo Egipta interesom izraelske države in korak nazaj v palestinskem osvobodilnem boju, za katerega egiptovski vladarji niso imeli nobene politične, pravne ali celo etične utemeljitve.

S sporazumom iz leta 1979 je Egipt zamenjal strani in iz podpornika boja za osvoboditev Palestine postal zatiralec palestinskega ljudstva in spodbujevalec izraelske okupacije. To se je zgodilo kljub dejstvu, da so Egipčani močno podpirali in še vedno podpirajo palestinski boj. Kar pa egiptovska vlada ni in ga še vedno ne. Danes Egiptu vlada režim, ki je podedoval Al-Sadatov pristop sodelovanja z okupatorjem in nadzora nad oskrbo Gaze na način, ki naj bi zagotovil, da ljudje ne bodo stradali, a da Palestinci tudi ne bi postali dovolj močni, da bi lahko razvili oborožen ali političen odpor proti okupaciji.

Ta praksa je postala še očitnejša od 7. oktobra 2023 do danes, ko Izrael bombardira in napada dele Rafe, kjer so številni prebivalci Gaze iskali varnost pred bombami in kopenskimi napadi drugje. Mejni prehod Rafa je zaprt samovoljno, zaprt po ukazu okupatorja, zaprt pred očmi prestrašenih in ranjenih Palestincev, zaprt pred očmi stradajočih otrok v Gazi.

V Solidarnostnem odboru za svobodno Palestino smo prepričani, da Egipt neposredno sodeluje pri omogočanju genocida v Gazi. Genocid omogoča z blokiranjem meja in preprečevanjem dostopa oskrbe v Gazo, genocid omogoča s sodelovanjem in usklajevanjem z Izraelom na obveščevalni in vojaški ravni. Hkrati ima sam koristi od genocida, saj so ljudje prisiljeni plačevati izjemno visoke vsote denarja, tudi do 10 tisoč dolarjev na osebo, da bi zapustili Gazo zaradi varnosti in zdravstvene oskrbe.

Egipt se uklanja izraelskim ukazom z logističnim zapiranjem meje in prekinjanjem telekomunikacij na svoji strani meje, hkrati pa veliko vlaga v propagando proti Palestincem.

Gre za propagando, ki ustrahuje egiptovsko javnost z zavajajočo propagando, ki odpiranje meja za Palestince povezuje s tem, da se Egipt spremeni v bojno fronto ali, kot je opisal egiptovski predsednik, v mesto za izvajanje terorističnih napadov na Izrael.

Egipt poskuša spremeniti zgodbo o boju proti okupatorju in ga degradirati v teroristično prakso. Poskus igranja z besedami in spreminjanja pripovedi se obravnava kot dejavno sodelovanje pri zatiranju Palestincev in spreminjanju pripovedi o njihovem boju ter zatiskanje oči pred trenutnim genocidom. S tem se tudi odvračajo od možnosti odprtja mejnega prehoda Rafa, da bi omogočili vstop medicinskih pripomočkov in hrane v Gazo, pa tudi vstop tistih, ki potrebujejo zdravniško pomoč, v Egipt.

Vse to potrjuje dejstvo, da je izraelska okupacijska vojska prevzela nadzor nad mejnim prehodom Rafa, kar bi pomenilo kršitev egiptovsko-izraelske mirovnega sporazuma, če bi se to zgodilo enostransko. Dejstvo, da Egipt javno ne izjavlja drugače, pomeni, da je operacijo odobril.

Ob upoštevanju vseh teh dejavnikov kot Solidarnostni odbor za svobodno Palestino od Egipta zahteva jasno opredelitev do potekajočega genocida, takojšnje odprtje mejnega prehoda Rafa za vso humanitarno pomoč v Gazo, vzpostavitev dodatnih mejnih prehodov in premik vseh Palestincev iz nevarnosti.

Solidarnostni odbor za svobodno Palestino

Egypt is a partner in genocide

45 years have passed since the Camp David Peace Treaty between Israel and Egypt was signed under United States supervision. With this treaty, Egypt, who was lead by president Anwar AlSadat, took away meaningful support for the Palestinian struggle for liberation, accepted the role of an enforcer of a border regime that was agreed on with Israel, and imposed control over supplies going to Gaza. The peace treaty was signed without the Palestinians, but had an enormous impact on them. In practice it was a surrender of Egypt to the interests of the Israeli state and a step back from the Palestinian struggle for which the Egyptian rulers had no political, legal or indeed ethical justification.

With the treaty of 1979 Egypt switched sides and went from being a supporter of the struggle for liberation of Palestine to an oppressor of the Palestinian people and enabler of Israeli occupation. This happened despite the fact that the Egyptian people were, and still are, strong supporters of the Palestinian struggle. But the Egyptian government was not and is still not. Today Egypt is ruled by a government that inherited Al-Sadat’s approach of cooperation with the occupier, controlling the supplies to Gaza in a way that should ensure people do not starve, but that they would also not get strong enough to develop any armed or political opposition against the occupation.

This practice became very apparent from October the 7th, 2023 until today, as Israel bombs and invades parts of Gaza closest to Rafah. The area where many Gaza residents had sought safety from the bombs and ground invasion elsewhere. We see Rafah border crossing shut down arbitrarily; shut down on the orders of the occupier; shut down in the faces of terrified and injured Palestinians; shut down in the faces of starving children of Gaza.

We as the Solidarity Committee for a Free Palestine believe that Egypt is directly playing a role in enabling the genocide in Gaza. It is enabling the genocide by blocking the borders and preventing supplies from entering Gaza; enabling the genocide by cooperating and coordinating with Israel in the area of intelligence and military actions. It is at the same time itself profiting from the genocide as people are forced to pay extraordinary sums of money of up to 10 thousand dollars per person to leave Gaza for safety and medical treatment.

Egypt is bowing to Israeli orders such as logistically shutting down the borders and cutting off the telecommunications on their side of the border, as well as heavily investing in propaganda against Palestinians.

A propaganda of terrorizing the Egyptian public with deceptive propaganda that connects opening the borders for Palestinians, with Egypt being turned into a fighting front or, as described by the Egyptian President, as a site for launching terrorist attacks against Israel.

Egypt has been trying to change the narrative of struggle against the occupier and downgrade it to terrorist practices. The attempt of playing on words and changing the narrative is seen as an active involvement in oppressing Palestinians, while also changing the narrative of their struggle, and turning a blind eye on the ongoing genocide. In doing so they turn away from the possibility of opening the Rafah border crossing to allow the entry of medical and food supplies into Gaza as well as allowing those in need of medical attention into Egypt.

All this is confirmed by the fact that Israel’s occupying army took control over the Rafah border crossing, which would be a violation of Egypt-Israel peace treaty if it would be done unilaterally. The fact that Egypt is not publicly stating otherwise means that it gave its approval for the operation.

Considering all these factors, we as the Solidarity Committee for a Free Palestine demand a clear statement from Egypt regarding the ongoing genocide, to immediately open the Rafah crossing to all humanitarian aid into Gaza, establish additional border crossings, and enable movement of all Palestinians out of harm’s way.

Solidarity Committee for a free Palestine