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The Egyptian security concept versus the Israeli security concept

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The security concept from the Israeli perspective:

The general connotation of national security means: “a set of theoretical and practical measures and precautions for the protection of the territorial sphere of a state.” As for the national security theory, it indicates, according to its general concept: “the precautions to be taken in order to consolidate the state’s national sovereignty over its territorial lands and its internal and external interests associated with its construction.” national and cultural special

Definition of Israeli National Security:

Zvi Shur considered that “the defense situation of the State of Israel is different from that of most of the nations of the world. The continuous military threat since the establishment of Israel, on the part of the Arab countries, puts before them a fundamental problem of existence, and requires the establishment of a military force that is strong enough to confront and confront this threat.” “There is no country in the world that considers the issue of national security as vital to its existence as it is to Israel, as the issue of national security for it is not only a matter of national existence, but rather a matter of life and death for its citizens, and there is no place in the world to which the words of John Kennedy apply, National security remains the field of activity, as “one mistake can kill us” more than it applies to Israel. The Israeli national security is to prevent the outbreak of war from a position of equality without giving up national treasures of the first degree, and one of the most important means to prevent the outbreak of war outside the framework of the research force is to freeze allies as a source of aid as a minimum.

As for the Israeli security theory, it was built according to accurate and continuous assessments of the strengths or weaknesses of the Arab countries. It is a military state in a state of permanent confrontation with its enemies. The Israeli national security stems from a very simple and naive saying that Palestine or Eretz Israel is a land without a people, and then if there is such a people, it must be absent, meaning that the concept of Israeli national security stems from denial Arab time and Arab existence, and the Palestinian in particular. This means the necessity of imposing the Zionist presence and the Zionist conditions by all available means, that is, deterring and weakening the Arabs is a fundamental goal of Israeli national security, and that the Israeli army must maintain its military capacity, and that the Zionist state must maintain its strong relations with the Western world that supports and finances it and ensures its permanent military superiority .

With this, the concept of Israeli national security has undergone some modifications as a result of the Arab-Israeli wars, and the resulting geographical and political changes and data. What has changed over these years is only the tools for achieving this security, but not in the sense of complete change or replacement. The concept of Israeli national security has developed through several stages:

1- The concept of Israeli national security was based in its first stage on the concept of a “preemptive counterstrike,” which was linked to Israel’s lack of strategic depth. This concept stems from the saying that it is vital not to allow war at all to take place in the land of Israel, but rather it must be quickly transferred to the enemy’s lands, and it developed a concept of deterrence and then replaced it with a concept of pretexts for preemptive war based on launching a preemptive war if the (Arab) enemy tries to dispose of its land In a way that worries Israel, such as compromising the freedom of crossing, or mobilizing forces on the Israeli borders, or depriving it of water sources. Therefore, the process of nationalizing the Suez Canal called for a military action, represented in the Kadesh operation, or what we call the “triple aggression.”

2- The concept of Israeli national security developed to show the theory of “safe borders”. It is a theory whose foundations were laid before 1967 but crystallized after the 1967 war. It was explained by (Abba Eban), the foreign minister at the time, as a theory based on defensible borders without resorting to a preventive war. It is noticeable in this theory that the predominance of space over time is complete, as the Arab people are seen as having to be completely eliminated or marginalized. The theory of safe borders is a declaration of the end of (Arab) history.

* The 1973 war confirmed the failure of most of the Israeli spatial security theories, which necessitated the formation of a new theory, which is the theory of “the pretext of war.” This theory states that Israel will not be able in any way to refrain from adopting a strategy of preventive war and direct strikes in the event that it is exposed to an Arab threat such as The Iraqi reactor was hit in the eighties and the Yarmouk factory in Sudan today.

Hence, it can be said that the most important pillars of Israeli security are the following:

1- Israeli security theory and secure borders
2- The use of force is based on the principle of complete readiness, and on the theory of "full striking force", which is based on the necessity of possessing a large force that constitutes an impregnable and powerful factor that protects Israel, and prevents Arab countries from attempting any military action against it. This theory is known as the theory of deterrence against Arab countries.
3- Securing all aspects of support and assistance, as Israel has been and will always be in dire need of the international community’s support for it politically, economically and militarily to ensure its continuity. One of the negative aspects of the Israeli security theory and its being surrounded by Arab countries from all sides
4- Regional security (superiority and hegemony) through:

* Outperforming the Arab countries combined

* Blocking the way for regional parties, and Arabs in particular, to improve their positions in Washington

* Security of the base (Judaization of the land and the population)


The Egyptian security concept:

The Center for Strategic Studies of the Egyptian Armed Forces defines national security as: a complex process that determines the state’s ability to develop its capabilities and protect its capabilities, at all levels and in various fields from internal and external dangers, through all available means and objective policies with the aim of developing strengths and cordoning off weaknesses in the entity. The political and social status of the state within the framework of a comprehensive national philosophy that takes into account all internal, regional and international changes.

Dr. Hamed Rabie, Professor of Political Science at Cairo University defined national security as: In its essence, a military concept stems from the characteristics of the defensive conditions of the national territory to be transformed into a theoretical formulation so that it becomes rules for collective and leadership behavior with a political meaning and a penalty that is not limited to internal dealings.

And Dr. Ali El-Din Hilal (Professor of Political Science) defined it as “securing the entity of the state or a number of countries against the threats that threaten it from within and without, securing the vital interests of the state and creating the appropriate conditions to achieve its national goals and objectives.”

Egyptian national security determinants:

Retired Major General Abdel Moneim Kato put forward a comprehensive vision in which he sees that national security has for a short time focused on the military dimension, which means the use of military force or the threat of its use. However, the expansion of the concept of the comprehensive strategy of the state includes the political, economic, social, external and even psychological dimensions of the state, making national security extend to include All fields and its concepts are varied, but there is a consensus that national security is the preservation of the security of the homeland and citizens, as well as preserving the unity of society in a single social fabric. It became the comprehensive national strategy of the state and the military strategy that must serve, align, and coincide with the state's strategy to form together.

National security aims to achieve the supreme national interests and goals represented by the state’s interests in the first degree and its regional and international role. Although the United Nations has its mission and primary goal to maintain international peace and security, we believe that America has a special national security, as well as France, Germany and other countries whose success is all measured by the ability to exercise Forms, means and images of national security to achieve their national interests and goals.

The multiplicity of national interests of states may conflict with the concepts of national security, but there is a set of foundations and criteria that national security must enjoy that achieve national goals and interests without conflict or objection, based on moderation and what the United Nations Charter emphasizes on principles as well as studying the factors that It may affect national security, whether in the surrounding, regional or international circle, capabilities, capabilities, goals and national interests that change with changing circumstances.

The Egyptian national security focuses on Egypt's eastern borders with Israel, and the reason for this is that all enemies infiltrated Egypt from the eastern side through the Sinai historically. Mustafa al-Fiqi, one of the July theorists, said in Al-Hayat newspaper on June 5, 2007: “The concept of Arab national security has crystallized mainly in recent decades as a result of the threats posed by the establishment of the State of Israel and the blatant aggression it represents against the peoples of the region and the direct targeting of foreign ambitions in the Arab lands and their wealth. …..because everyone realized that the Hebrew state represents a different kind of settler colonialism that is eating away at the body of the nation.”


Egyptian national security threats:

Major General Jaber El-Araby, Secretary-General of North Sinai Governorate, stated in the symposium entitled (National Security and Regional and International Variables), which was held in the conference hall of the General Court of North Sinai Governorate, that the Egyptian national security cradles are divided into two types: internal and external threats. Self-sufficiency As for the external threats, which are the western direction and arms smuggling from Libya and the southern direction, Israel has undermined the southern strategic depth of Egypt by dividing Sudan into two states and the eastern direction by Israel, then added other types of threats, which are military, external, economic and societal threats.

Dimensions of the January revolution in Egypt and its impact on the security aspect of Egyptian-Israeli relations:

With the beginning of the Egyptian revolution, the statements of the Israeli government began to differ with the different stages of the revolution. Shimon Peres said that Israel's real desire is to maintain peace with both Egypt and Jordan, stressing that Tel Aviv places the Camp David agreement with Cairo of great strategic and vital importance. Then Benjamin Netanyahu's statements came between welcoming and warning the results of the Egyptian revolution, where he stressed that Israel's goal is to ensure the continuation of relations between Israel and Egypt. In the first official comment on the Islamists’ progress in the parliamentary elections, Netanyahu said on December 3, 2011 AD, “We hope that any upcoming government in Egypt will recognize the importance of preserving the peace treaty with Israel as it is and as a basis for regional security and economic stability.” An Israeli security source told Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper on 29/ 1/2011 AD that a fundamental change in the regime in Egypt could lead to a revolution in the Israeli security theory. The statements of senior Israeli officials at the inauguration ceremony of “Gantz built a new chief of staff for the Israeli army to succeed” Gabi Askanzy on February 14, 2011 AD, were dominated by new security challenges due to developments in Egypt. As Netanyahu said, “The only real support for our ability to strengthen our presence here and to persuade our neighbors to be with us in peace is the IDF, which is the real guarantee of securing our future.”

These dimensions can be summarized as follows:

- Netanyahu affirmed on 12/28/2011 that the strategic exchanges taking place in the Middle East, especially the political changes in Egypt and Iraq, threaten Israel and that his government will take decisions to allocate greater budgets for the security and the army in order to face the new strategic challenges. On 8/1/2012 Netanyahu announced that Israel will boost defense spending by about 6% this year in the face of increasing regional instability

- On February 21, 2011, the Knesset Finance Committee decided to increase the army’s budget by an amount of 780 million shekels, to reach 60.7 billion shekels in 2012.

- Barak stressed that the Israeli army forces will continue to be alert and mobilized along the border area with Egypt until the security situation stabilizes and the state of turmoil in Egypt subsides (1).

- The Egyptian border witnessed a state of alert and tension on both sides after eight Israelis were killed in an attack on two buses and a military enclave near the city of Eilat. Israeli forces were deployed to secure the border

- Dr. Muhammad Mujahid al-Zayat presented the security challenges facing Egypt during the transitional period, which he refuted in strategic, internal and external challenges, and pointed to the lack of interest on the part of the forces of the revolution in crystallizing alternatives to the institutions of the collapsed regime in light of the divergence of views between them, and the inability of the political elite that directs and leads State policy during the transitional period to agree on the national security system.

He suggested the increasing US pressure on Egypt for any tendency towards stopping the security coordination that had been in place over the past years in the matter of combating international terrorism and the international campaign against it, which he considered to be an element of pressure on Egyptian security.

He also referred to the increase in external intrusions from foreign intelligence services to the countries of the revolutions, including Egypt, especially from Israel and the major countries to monitor and follow up on what is happening on their soil.

Interactions in some neighboring countries, especially in Libya, threaten Egyptian security.

He referred to the escalation of tension with Israel as a result of the other party's concern about the democratic transition in Egypt and the trend of the general mood towards controlling the boundaries of these relations in all their economic, political and security aspects, coupled with the escalation of the positive Egyptian role towards the Palestinian cause.


Source: Hussein Khalaf Musa, opinion articles
 

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