The following is a very insightful article regarding how what is currently   
   happening in Egypt could eventually have a profound effect on the entire   
   Middle Eastern situation, particularly as it concerns Israel.   
      
   For example, if Hosni Mubarak falls -- as he should -- and the Muslim   
   Brotherhood comes to power in one form or another, Israel will once again be   
   surrounded by her Muslim enemies on all sides, as has not happened in thirty   
   years since Egypt signed a peace accord with Israel, followed by Jordan some   
   years later. I discuss these issues somewhere in my articles concerning the   
   Middle East.   
      
   However, I don't fully trust what the mass media is currently saying. I have   
   this suspicion that Hosni Mubarak may yet have some very dirty tactics up   
   his sleeve, in order to preserve his power. I hope that I am wrong, and that   
   the Egyptian Army really is siding with the protesters, and that they will   
   drive Mubarak and his ilk out of the country, and not replace the thug   
   Mubarak with another thug from within the military ranks.   
      
   Time will certainly tell.   
      
      
   Israel Shaken as Turbulence Rocks an Ally   
      
   By ETHAN BRONNER - NYT   
      
   January 30, 2011   
      
      
   JERUSALEM -- The street revolt in Egypt has thrown the Israeli government   
   and military into turmoil, with top officials closeted in round-the-clock   
   strategy sessions aimed at rethinking their most significant regional   
   relationship.   
      
   Israel's military planning relies on peace with Egypt; nearly half the   
   natural gas it uses is imported from Egypt; and the principle of trading   
   conquered land for diplomatic ties began with its 1979 peace treaty with   
   Egypt. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has met with President Hosni   
   Mubarak of Egypt more than with any other foreign leader, except President   
   Obama. If Mr. Mubarak were driven from power, the effect on Israel could be   
   profound.   
      
   "For the United States, Egypt is the keystone of its Middle East policy," a   
   senior official said. "For Israel, it's the whole arch."   
      
   The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because Mr. Netanyahu has   
   ordered his ministers and their officials to stay publicly silent on Egypt   
   while events there play out.   
      
   Many analysts here said that even if Mr. Mubarak were forced to leave   
   office, those who replaced him could maintain Egypt's peace treaty with   
   Israel, since it is the basis for more than $1 billion in annual aid to   
   Cairo from Washington and much foreign investment.   
      
   But others noted that the best-organized political force in Egypt is the   
   Muslim Brotherhood, which is hostile to Israel and close to Hamas, the   
   Palestinian rulers in Gaza whose weapons-smuggling the Egyptian government   
   works to block.   
      
   As the government evacuated the families of envoys from Egypt over the   
   weekend, public affairs broadcasts and newspapers in Israel focused on the   
   unfolding events there. Most of the predictions were dire. Two of three   
   newspapers with the largest circulations, Yediot Aharonot and Maariv, had   
   identical front-page headlines: "A New Middle East."   
      
   It was an ironic reference to the phrase used frequently in the 1990s by   
   President Shimon Peres and other advocates of coexistence who argued that if   
   Israel made peace with its neighbors, a more prosperous and enlightened   
   region would bloom. Events of the past five years -- the takeover of Gaza by   
   Hamas, the rise of Hezbollah in Lebanon, Iran's influence in Iraq and the   
   shift by Turkey toward Iran and Syria -- have turned many Israelis   
   rightward, fearing that the more time passes the more the region is against   
   them.   
      
   Israelis worry that Jordan is in a precarious state and a successful   
   overthrow in Egypt could spread there. And if the Muslim Brotherhood were to   
   gain power in Egypt, that would probably mean not only a stronger Islamist   
   force in Gaza but also in the West Bank, currently run by the   
   Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority, as well as in Jordan, meaning Israel   
   would feel surrounded in a way it has not in decades.   
      
   If Egypt also turned unfriendly, that would quite likely stop in its tracks   
   any further Israeli talk of peace negotiations with the Palestinians,   
   officials and analysts said. A peace treaty with the West Bank would involve   
   yielding territory and military control to a relatively weak Palestinian   
   Authority. Trading land for peace with autocrats like Mr. Mubarak, some   
   analysts say, is not a sound basis for enduring treaties.   
      
   There has long been concern that popular sentiment in Egypt is anti-Israel.   
   Eli Shaked, a former Israeli ambassador to Cairo, wrote in the Yediot   
   Aharonot newspaper, "The only people in Egypt who are committed to peace are   
   the people in Mubarak's inner circle, and if the next president is not one   
   of them, we are going to be in trouble."   
      
   Mr. Mubarak has just named Omar Suleiman, his right-hand man and the   
   country's intelligence chief, as his vice president; Israelis would be   
   reassured if he were to inherit power. Other establishment figures, while   
   less friendly to Israel, would most likely maintain some kind of continuity.   
   But Israelis feared that nothing was certain.   
      
   They noted that if Mr. Mubarak were to go, Mr. Netanyahu could be left   
   without an ally in the region. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey   
   has been highly critical of Israel since the Gaza war two years ago and even   
   more so after Israeli commandos killed nine Turks aboard a flotilla trying   
   to break Israel's blockade of Gaza last May. King Abdullah II of Jordan,   
   while honoring his country's peaceful relations with Israel, has been   
   critical of Mr. Netanyahu since he took office two years ago and has   
   declined to meet with him as well.   
      
   For the military here, a serious change in Egypt means a strategic shift in   
   planning. Giora Eiland, a former national security adviser and a senior   
   fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv   
   University, said even if Egypt did not cancel its peace treaty with Israel   
   tomorrow or in five years, a government dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood   
   would mean "you can't exclude the possibility of a war with Egypt."   
      
   "During the last 30 years," he said, "when we had any military   
   confrontation, whether in the first or second Lebanon wars, the intifadas,   
   in all those events we could be confident that Egypt would not try to   
   intervene militarily."   
      
   Dan Schueftan, director of the National Security Studies Center at the   
   University of Haifa, said thanks to its treaty with Egypt, Israel had   
   reduced its defense expenditure from 23 percent of its gross national   
   product in the 1970s to 9 percent today and made serious cuts in its army.   
   The relationship with Egypt also allowed Israel to withdraw from Gaza in   
   2005, since Egypt covered Gaza from the south.   
      
   Despite Mr. Mubarak's supportive relations with Israel, many Israelis on   
   both the left and right are sympathetic to the Egyptians' desire to rid   
   themselves of his autocracy and build a democracy. But they fear what will   
   follow if things move too quickly.   
      
   "We know this has to do with the desire for freedom, prosperity and   
   opportunity, and we support people who don't want to live under tyranny, but   
   who will take advantage of what is happening in its wake?" a top official   
   said. "The prevailing sense here is that you need a certain stability   
   followed by reform. Snap elections are likely to bring a very different   
   outcome."   
      
   Israeli analysts also noted that Egypt had worked hard to oppose Iranian   
   ambitions, and the loss of Egypt as a counterweight would have consequences.   
      
   Mr. Schueftan of the University of Haifa made this point, saying, "If this   
   cornerstone is removed or even in doubt, the overall picture for Israel   
   changes and the threats become much more realistic than before."   
      
      
      
   Jeff Snyder, SysOp - Armageddon BBS  Visit us at endtimeprophecy.org port 23   
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