"Egypt accepts the fact that there is smuggling from its territory, part
of the Middle Eastern theater of the absurd," Diskin told the Knesset
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on July 22.
Officials said the Israeli intelligence community has assessed that the
regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was facilitating weapons
smuggling to the Gaza Strip. They said Egyptian officers were captured on
video as cooperating with smugglers, who relay weapons through the tunnel
network with the Gaza Strip.
"The state of Israel has lost its deterrence because it is unequipped to
deal with infiltration [from Egypt]," said Brig. Gen. Yoel Strik, commander
of the army's Edom Division, stationed on the Israeli-Egyptian border.
Israel has complained to the United States regarding Egypt's refusal to
arrest the smugglers. Congress has passed legislation that would slash $100
million
in U.S. military aid to Egypt unless it increases security cooperation with
Israel.
In 2008, Egypt reported numerous arrests or seizures of arms
shipments to the Gaza Strip. The Mubarak regime has cited troop restrictions
in the eastern Sinai for the failure to block weapons smuggling to the Gaza
Strip.
"The Egyptians sometimes publicize that smugglers were arrested," an
official said. "But we know of nobody who has been prosecuted, convicted or
sentenced. This suggests that the arrests are bogus."