Israel Accuses Egyptians of Arming Hamas

UNITED NATIONS — On the eve of a Cairo meeting of top Egyptian and Israeli leaders, officials in Israel and Egypt are trading accusations that each is undermining peace in the region, trying to enlist the Bush administration and Congress to support their arguments.

One of Israel's most hawkish figures on relations with Egypt, the former head of the Knesset's powerful defense and foreign relations committee, Yuval Steinitz of the Likud Party, accused the foreign ministry of appeasing Cairo by concealing from the American Congress videotaped evidence showing Egyptian soldiers actively helping in weapons smuggling into the Hamas-controlled Gaza strip. Israel's foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, also accused Egypt of playing a "terrible" role in the border area known as the Philadelphi Corridor.

Israel's defense minister, Ehud Barak, is due to arrive in Cairo today, where he is expected to raise with President Mubarak issues like the Gaza weapons smuggling and negotiations for the release of an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, who is believed to be held in Gaza by a terrorist group. Ahead of the visit, Jerusalem officials attempted to lower the rhetoric.

"Egypt is the largest, most prominent, and most powerful Arab state, and we have peaceful relations with it," Israel's foreign ministry spokesman, Aryeh Mekel, told The New York Sun yesterday. "The advantage of having such peaceful relations is that you can sit down and discuss such issues. And that is exactly what Barak intends to do." But on Monday, Ms. Livni was much more pointed as she appeared in front of the Knesset's defense and foreign relations committee.

"Egypt's role at Annapolis was positive," she said. "But that does not negate the fact that that its activity in the Philadelphi Corridor is terrible and problematic." Such activity, she added, undermines more "pragmatic players" in Gaza and the West Bank.

Recent reports have marked a significant uptick in the volume and quality of weapons smuggled in underground tunnels — from gun bullets to higher-quality and longer-range rockets. Such rockets are constantly used to shell Israeli towns in the Western Negev, and they were described recently in a widely quoted study published by Israel's Intelligence Heritage and Commemoration Center as "the terrorist organizations' main threat against Israel."

Videotape recorded by the Israeli army clearly shows Egyptian soldiers near the border who are "aiding Hamas by helping in the smuggling," Mr. Steinitz told the Sun. The footage, he added, has been sent to Israel's embassy in Washington, but the foreign ministry has "decided to conceal the evidence from Congress."

After signing a peace deal in 1979, Egypt became the second largest recipient of American foreign aid, behind Israel. Mr. Steinitz and others in Jerusalem argue that Israel should work closely with its friends in Congress to assure that Egyptian aid money would be conditioned on its curbing the Gaza weapons flow. Withholding evidence could "hurt our relations with a friendly Congress," Mr. Steinitz said.

"Some things are done on the stage, others behind closed doors," Ms. Livni reportedly told Mr. Steinitz during her Knesset appearance. An Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the evidence was shown to members of the Bush administration, but added it arrived in Washington too late to become part of the budget negotiations.

Last week, Congress approved $1.3 billion to Egypt as part of the foreign aid budget. Congress called on the administration, however, to withhold $100 million out of an economic aid package of $412 million until Egypt improves its human rights performance and proves it is not aiding Gaza's terrorists.

For its part, Cairo accused Israel of undermining the peace process by what Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit called in a statement its "continued disregard of the world opposition to its settlement policy." He said he would raise the settlements issue with American officials.

Speaking of a recent decision to issue building permits for hundreds of new units in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Homa and the nearby town of Ma'aleh Adumim, Mr. Aboul Gheit's statement asserted that "settlement building and peace contradict each other and will never meet," according to the Associated Press.

Yesterday, Cairo raised the tone even further with a new foreign ministry statement that directly criticized Ms. Livni. "It is better for the Israeli minister to concentrate on negotiation efforts with the Palestinians, instead of speaking randomly about issues she should not be dealing with if she is not fully aware of the situation," the statement said.