Will a Democratic Egypt Destabalize Israel, the Middle East and The World?
As Israel wakes up Saturday, February 12, 2011, its world will be changed forever. There is a new sheriff in town and the success or failure of the Egyptian democracy will clearly affect its neighbor state, Israel, and so, the rest of the world.
The roar from Liberation Square continued for an hour and a half after Pres. Hosni Mubarak stepped down. The celebration lasted throughout the night.
Hosni Mubarak may have been a brutal dictator, but he was a friend to Western and Israeli interests. He especially was the go-to man in the Arab world when claims were cast against the Israeli government about oppression of the Palestinians. If the predominately Arab country of Egypt was not objecting to Israel's actions, they must be acceptable. Such rubber stamping of Israel foreign policy is likely a thing of the past. In fact, the entire peace process between the two countries is clearly at stake.
At the same time, the fledgling Egyptian military government has its own hands full. Many Jews resent the Camp David Peace Accords in which Israel gave up the Sinai Peninsula, won in the 1967 war, in exchange for lasting peace with Egypt, according to columnist Joe Hilliker of the Tumpet.com. The agreement cost Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat his life. His successor, now Past Pres. Hosni Mubarak, respected the Camp David Accords, hence continuing the peace for 30 years. Not all was lost under Mubarak. Radical forces in either country could put that lasting peace to the test.
Meanwhile, the Muslim Brotherhood, a transnational political organization founded in Egypt, may seek to turn the new government into an an Islamic state. US democratic principles suggest mixing a state religion with government can lead to oppression of the minority, an un-democratic principle. It precludes minority religious voices from representation and an opportunity to be heard and excuses the country from the obligation to protect the few from the majority, often the necessary job of a democracy. While the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt believes in peaceful processes, and decried the 911 attacks on the twin towers in New York, suspected splinter groups are violent and not Western friendly.
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