London: Omar Suleiman, the new
vice-president of Egypt, told the Israelis he wanted to start
"cleansing the Sinai" of Palestinian arms smugglers, according
to leaked cables.
Suleiman, Israel`s preferred candidate to replace
82-year-old Mubarak, promised personally to take
responsibility for `cleansing the Sinai`.
The diplomatic cables leaked to the WikiLeaks website
give evidence of close ties between Israel, the United States
and Suleiman, who is tipped to replace Hosni Mubarak as
Egypt`s president, the Daily Telegraph reported.
A secret hotline between Suleiman and the Israelis
was said to be "in daily use", according to the cables.
The pledge to cleanse Sinai was made by Suleiman to
Yuval Diskin of the Israeli Security Agency (ISA) after he
complained about the smuggling of weapons across the border
with Gaza.
According to a cable sent in November 2007, Diskin
met Rob Danin, the US deputy assistant secretary of state, and
Mark Kimmitt, the deputy assistant defence secretary, in Tel
Aviv and told them that the Sinai peninsula had now become a
"weapons and explosives warehouse" for operations in Gaza,
Egypt and Israel.
The cable said, Diskin told Danin and Kimmit [sic]
that the ISA had, on several occasions provided Omar Suleiman,
chief of Egypt`s intelligence services, with detailed
intelligence on the names of smugglers.
Diskin said he met personally with Suleiman in Egypt,
at which time Suleiman promised personally to take
responsibility for `cleansing the Sinai`.
"Despite these promises and Israeli offers to initiate
joint operations, Diskin said Egypt has not acted to eliminate
the smuggling networks," the cable said.
In Diskin`s view, there is a core policy problem in
that the Egyptians saw themselves as the primary mediator
between the Israelis and Palestinians, and are careful not to
alienate either side.
Suleiman worked hard to position himself as the main
Egyptian link with Israel.
According to the cable, he was blocking attempts by
the Israelis to form links with other members of the Cairo
government.
This was, according to Diskin, because of Suleiman`s
"desire to remain the sole point of contact for foreign
intelligence."
The efforts paid off.
In 2008, Suleiman was named as Israel`s preferred
successor to Mubarak and the new secret direct hotline was in
daily use.
By early 2009, Dan Harel, deputy chief of staff at
the Israel Defence Staff, was reporting that "on the
intelligence side under Suleiman co-operation is good".
A cable reported, "Co-operation against smuggling is
better with Egyptian Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman than it
is with Egyptian Military Commander Field Marshall Tantawi.
"In May 2009, in a meeting with the Americans,
Suleiman was telling them of how Egypt had made the border
with Gaza more secure."
This included "destroying tunnels, and erecting
underground metal barricades", although he "acknowledged that
the smuggling could never be fully stopped".
Suleiman has already won the backing of US Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton to lead the "transition" to
democracy after nearly three weeks of demonstrations
calling for Mubarak to resign. In Diskin`s view, there is a core policy problem in
that the Egyptians saw themselves as the primary mediator
between the Israelis and Palestinians, and are careful not to
alienate either side.
Suleiman worked hard to position himself as the main
Egyptian link with Israel.
According to the cable, he was blocking attempts by
the Israelis to form links with other members of the Cairo
government.
This was, according to Diskin, because of Suleiman`s
"desire to remain the sole point of contact for foreign
intelligence."
The efforts paid off.
In 2008, Suleiman was named as Israel`s preferred
successor to Mubarak and the new secret direct hotline was in
daily use.
By early 2009, Dan Harel, deputy chief of staff at
the Israel Defence Staff, was reporting that "on the
intelligence side under Suleiman co-operation is good".
A cable reported, "Co-operation against smuggling is
better with Egyptian Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman than it
is with Egyptian Military Commander Field Marshall Tantawi.
"In May 2009, in a meeting with the Americans,
Suleiman was telling them of how Egypt had made the border
with Gaza more secure."
This included "destroying tunnels, and erecting
underground metal barricades", although he "acknowledged that
the smuggling could never be fully stopped".
Suleiman has already won the backing of US Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton to lead the "transition" to democracy
after nearly three weeks of demonstrations calling for
Mubarak to resign.
PTI
