MB official: Egypt-Israel peace deal can change

A top Muslim Brotherhood official said Wednesday, that Egypt's peace treaty with Israel is not set in stone and is susceptible to change, indicating that Cairo would seek to allow more security forces in the Sinai than current agreements with Jerusalem permit. The comment, made by Waleed al-Haddad, a member of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party’s (FJP) Foreign Relations Committee during an official visit to Poland, came amid growing concerns of security in the desert peninsula. Al-Haddad also said that the security in the Sinai cannot be maintained if the peninsula remains demilitarized. Last week, the heads of Bedouin communities in northern Sinai demanded that the Egyptian parliament amend the Camp David accords with Israel, claiming that they do not guarantee national security and do not provide for the Bedouin population's participation in security plans for the Peninsula. The Bedouins' demands were made when members of the Egyptian national Security Council visited the coastal town of Al-Arish to inspect the community's economic situation and assess the security situation. Speaking to Israeli daily Haaretz on Wednesday, al-Haddad said that "the peace deal with Israel isn't in the constitution, it's just an agreement that can be changed," adding that, while the Muslim Brotherhood did not intend to annul the treaty, it would have to introduce changes concerning the current Sinai demilitarised zone. He added that: "Without the presence of the Egyptian military it will be impossible to maintain a routine life," Concerning Egypt's continuing ties with Israel, the FJP official said that "Egypt ruled by the Muslim Brotherhood could accept the existence of the State of Israel if it makes a significant contribution to resolving the Palestinian problem." He refused to elaborate his party's stance in case an understanding with Hamas could not be reached. Al-Hadad and other Egyptian officials arrived in Warsaw this week as part of an attempt to calm public opinion in the West concerning Egypt's rising political forces, and explain the tenets of the various movements, "based on an aspiration to working, mutual relationships with all the world's nations."