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Tarek El Khouly, the Deputy Chairman of the Egyptian House of Representatives’ Foreign Relations Committee, said in a May 16, 2024 interview aired on BBC Arabic (United Kingdom) that Egypt accepted peace with Israel over 40 years ago as a strategic and political maneuver to regain Egyptian territory, but that the recent tensions between Egypt and Israel – which he asserted is attempting to push the Gazans into the Sinai Peninsula – have created a situation in which the downgrading of relations between the two countries, along with other measures on Egypt's part, are "plausible." He said that "all options are on the table," but that any change would be gradual, since superpowers must play various cards at the appropriate times rather than going "all in" at the same time.
Tarek El Khouly: "More than four decades ago, Egypt accepted peace [with Israel] as a strategic choice, as part of its political maneuver to regain Egyptian lands at the time. Since then, we haven't seen any major tension on the border between Egypt and Israel. However, the goal of the dangerous Israeli escalation since October 7 [2023], along with the Israeli military operation, has been to expel our people – the Palestinians of Gaza – into Sinai.
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"I believe that all options are on the table. A downgrading of the level of diplomatic relations is plausible, along with many [other] measures from the Egyptian side.
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"All options are on the table. In addition, there were voices among the Egyptian people, among politicians, political parties, and in the Egyptian parliament itself... Many MPs have called to reexamine the peace agreement [with Israel], and some of them have called to suspend this argument, but as you have said, there is a strategic gradation of the various options. When superpowers manage their foreign tensions, they do so gradually, playing various cards at the appropriate time. We cannot go all in and exercise all our options at the same time."
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