Retired Egyptian Generals Defend Rafah Wall: Hamas Wants to Turn Sinai into a Second Swat Valley

Following are excerpts from interviews with retired Egyptian Generals Husam Sweilem and Nabil Babawi, which aired on Al-Mihwar TV on December 25, 2009 and on Al-Alam TV on December 23, 2009.

Al-Mihwar TV, December 25, 2009

Husam Sweilem: People from Hamas have agreed to annex northern Sinai to Gaza. They want to turn this area into a base for Hamas resistance against Israel. They want to launch the resistance from there, strike within Israel, and return to the safety of Egyptian territory. Then Israel will retaliate against them, by attacking their bases in northern Sinai, and by occupying northern Sinai again. Then, Sinai will become a second Afghanistan, a second Jizan, or like the Swat Valley in Pakistan, and we will have to establish camps for the Palestinians. This is what they plan for Egypt. Does this correspond with Egyptian national security? This is what they want.

Egypt has detected the danger. They want to turn northern Sinai into a Swat Valley. The Taliban are 150 km from Islamabad, and both Pakistan and Afghanistan have become involved in this. Similarly, the Houthis launch attacks into Jizan from Yemen. They want to turn northern Sinai into a base, from which the resistance would launch attacks against Israel. Then Israel would retaliate in the Sinai, occupy it again, and we would go back 30 years.

This is what Iran wants, this is what Syria wants, this is what Qatar wants, and this is [the plan] of this entire group of countries that want to harm Egypt – the so-called "resistance states." They want to send Egypt 30 years back in time. Why? Because they hate Egypt for succeeding, all by itself, to liberate every single grain of sand in the Sinai, while the Golan Heights are still occupied after 37 years, and not a single bullet has been shot from there – even though Damascus is the capital of the resistance, and they hold "resistance festivals" there.

First you should liberate your own land. What are they doing to liberate their land? They attack in Beirut. They assassinate (Rafiq) Al-Hariri and Lebanese MP's and journalists. That's their resistance.

Al-Alam TV, December 23, 2009

Nabil Babawi: Hizbullah operatives were arrested in Egypt. There were people who smuggled weapons to Hamas. What will Hamas do with these smuggled weapons? It will attack and kill members of the Fatah. We haven't seen you attacking the Israelis. Since [Hamas] took over, not a single Israeli has been killed. All these missiles fall in the desert.