Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — Despite U.S. appeals, Egypt’s new Islamist president
has refused to approve high-level security talks with Israel.

Officials said Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has rejected U.S.
appeals to establish a high-level channel with Israel to coordinate on
military and security issues. Over the last three months, they said, several
senior members of the administration of President Barack Obama raised the
need for such a channel.

“Morsi has insisted that the current channels of communications with
Israel are sufficient even though they are extremely limited,” an official said.

Officials said the U.S. appeals were prompted by Israel, which warned
that Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula marked a powder keg that could explode into a regional war. They cited the missile war with the Gaza Strip in November 2012, which included rocket fire from Sinai.

On Jan. 7, U.S. Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Michael
Vickers concluded two days of talks in Cairo with the Egyptian leadership. Officials said the focus of the meetings, believed to have included Morsi, focused on the security situation in Sinai, deemed a leading arms route to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

Congress has been warned that the Morsi regime could exploit a major
attack around Sinai to downgrade or cancel Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel.
Cairo has expressed determination to eliminate the treaty’s stipulation for
the demilitarization of Sinai.

“To prevent this outcome, Washington should immediately press Egyptian
President Mohammed Morsi to establish direct communication channels with the
Israeli government to ensure that this kind of crisis will be managed
responsibly,” Eric Trager, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near
East Policy, said.

Trager, who has testified to Congress, urged Washington to press for a
new security strategy to stabilize Sinai. He said the first step was to
ensure direct communications between Morsi and the Israeli government.

“The administration should also tell Morsi bluntly that American
economic and military aid is an investment in an Egypt that maintains
peaceful relations with its neighbors, and that the status quo — in which
any spark in Sinai risks a rupture in Egyptian-Israeli diplomatic
relations — is untenable,” Trager said.

In December 2012, Obama approved the start of delivery of 20 F-16 Block
52 multi-role fighters to Egypt. The administration has also blocked efforts
within Congress to halt or delay the $1.3 billion in annual U.S. military
aid to Cairo.

Officials said the prospect of open U.S. pressure on Morsi was slim in
2013. They said the administration, including the State Department and
intelligence community, have argued that any threats against the new
president would trigger a backlash by the ruling Muslim Brotherhood party.

“The administration wants to build a relationship of trust with Morsi,
and this will require carrots,” another official said.

  Egypt’s Morsi rejects U.S. appeals, Egypt’s Morsi rejects U.S. pressure for high-level talks with Israel, Gaza Strip, Michael Vickers, Muslim Brotherhood, Sinai Peninsula, Washington Institute for Near East Policy