Comments

You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name

Your e-mail (optional)

Website (optional)

	My Original Nic Pic-a-Nic Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Foto

Submit your comments on this article

Africa North

Egyptian protesters pull down Israel embassy wall

2011-09-10

Rolled over from yesterday.

Egyptian activists destroyed a wall around the Israeli embassy and set police cars on fire in Cairo on Friday after thousands demonstrated at Tahrir Square to push for a timetable for reforms and an end to military trials for civilians.

Activists who spearheaded an uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak on February 11 have been piling pressure on the ruling military council to fix a date for parliamentary and presidential elections and to get rid of senior officials who served under Mubarak.

Thousands converged on Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the pro-democracy protests that toppled Mubarak, after Friday prayers for what was billed as "Correcting the Path" protests.

Some later marched to the opposite bank of the Nile in Giza. Demonstrators used hammers, large iron bars and police barricades to tear down the wall, erected this month by Egyptian authorities after daily protests over the killing of five Egyptian border guards in Sinai.

Protesters scaled the embassy building, removed the Israeli flag for the second time in less than a month and burned it.
I'm calling it now, war is coming this fall-winter to Israel. Stock up on beans and bullets, guys.

Posted by:DarthVader

#6 I was wondering the other day if the wall was to:
a-keep egyptians out
b-keep Israelis in
c-both

Fortunately, with the evacuation of the staff, it was A.

Posted by: swksvolFF 2011-09-10 12:45

#5 Egypt is become concerned about Arab Bedouins in the Sinai demanding autonomy or sovereignty, so IMO don't think its focii will be on waging war agz nuke-armed, US, NATO-backed Israel.

These Activists did manage to have the Israeli Embassy staff ordered to skedaddle over to the Cairo Airport back to Tel Aviv, though, for safety.

Posted by: JosephMendiola 2011-09-09 23:21

#4 There is one, possibly two possibilities. The first being the Egyptian military occupying Libya as a "peacekeeping" force, to prevent it from decaying into another Somalia. In effect it would be under the Egyptian government, because the Libyan government would be a puppet.

But this raises an interesting possibility if northern Sudan becomes more unstable. But it would be a LOT harder to integrate them, much like if they wanted Algeria to join the mix.

Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-09-09 23:15

#3 "So my prediction is not war, but chaos."

In other words, same as now. :-(

Posted by: Barbara 2011-09-09 21:12

#2 An Egyptian-Libyan war might be tempting for the oil, but Egypt would land quickly in the international dog-house. You might say, "eh, who cares", but Egypt needs several billion dollars a year in foreign aid from the U.S. and Europe just to feed its people, and that aid would quickly be at risk in a war.

For the same reason, I don't see an Egyptian-Israeli war, at least not in the classical sense.

What could happen is that Egypt decides to fight a proxy war by letting the chain slip on Hamas and other groups on their side of the fence. Quiet aid and encouragement would allow Hamas to step up their attacks on Israel, and if coordinated with Hezbollah, etc could have the potential to provoke Israel into an 'extreme' response.

We know how the world would react to that.

So my prediction is not war, but chaos. As if there's a big difference in the end.

Posted by: Steve White 2011-09-09 21:09

#1 I think the likeliest scenario is Egypt gets sucked into a Libyan civil war.

Those oil fields across the border must look awfully tempting.

Posted by: phil_b 2011-09-09 19:45

00:00