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Following are excerpts from an interview with Dr. Said Okasha of the Al-Ahram Center for Strategic Studies, which aired on Misr 25 TV on October 18, 2011:
Dr. Said Okasha: The Camp David Accords were beneficial to Egypt, just as they were to Israel. Let's not forget that the accords kept Egypt from engaging in war, and that to a great extent, they prevented waste of resources and investments. True, Mubarak's regime was very corrupt, and therefore, he managed the matter badly, but the treaty itself had positive aspects for Egypt.
Moreover, Egypt did not fully comply with the treaty, as is generally believed. There are nine articles in the treaty that deal with cultural and trade relations, for example, which Egypt did not adhere to. Egypt was not the weak party in this matter, as some believe. Israel has benefited from it, and so have we.
There is no fear that the treaty will be abrogated. In 1951, Egypt abrogated the 1936 [Anglo-Egyptian] treaty. If you want to abrogate a treaty, you need to consider the cost – how this would impact relations with the Americans and the Europeans, how it would affect [foreign] investment and the types of weapons we have. We would never need to find new countries to provide us with weapons, as the West would no longer provide the weapons we receive today.
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The Egyptian people must know that if we enter war, it will be because we have no other choice – it will be in order to defend our lands and to achieve our interests. Today, it is not in our interest to escalate things, unless it is on a scale that does not let matters get out of hand. We must remember that the 1967 war broke out due to Abd Al-Nasser's mismanagement of the matter, and the situation deteriorated into a war that Egypt was not prepared for.
We do not want war. We want peace. If there is an opportunity to amend some of the articles of the Camp David Accords, I expect that the Israelis will also want to make some amendments.
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