Egypt and Israel over the outstanding issues

Just yesterday, lawyers filed a new lawsuit before the administrative court to stop the export of gas to Israel protesting on the deaths of 5 Egyptian soldiers by Israeli bullets on the border in the events of last Thursday. The ‘Shorooq’ polled views of a number of jurists on the renewal of these lawsuits and they agreed that the resolution of outstanding issues between Egypt and Israel needs a political will and not judicial intervention.

Consultant Mohammed Hamed Al-Jamal, former President of the Council of State, finds that the proceedings concerning offenses committed by Israel against the Egyptian people is caused by the absence of parliament that moves the political responsibility of the government and that directs it to take necessary measures to safeguard the interests and sovereignty of the people of Egypt.

Jamal added that the issues of the separation wall and that of the export of gas are completely out of the role of the State Council because they did not include any managerial dispute. These issues relate to sovereignty and judging about them should not be by means of legal or constitutional texts but by the political interest of the state.

Jamal went on: Whatever the opinion on the Camp David agreement in the political terms, it is an international agreement to be modified through negotiation between the two countries only, because it is within the scope of national sovereignty about border security and achieving state sovereignty over its territory and over its dealings with other countries.

For his part, the adviser Adel Farghaly, the former chairman of the administrative courts that the issue of construction of the wall of separation does not serve as a court case at all, as it relates to national security and the interests of the state.

Perhaps the decision to create the barrier is correct in terms of security and to prevent the phenomenon of continued smuggling across the border weather through the passage or the tunnels. However, its success as a security project requires opening all the official channels which facilitate the entry and exit of the Palestinian people to and from Egypt under the control of security. That is to prevent the penetration of the border illegally, because the phenomenon of smuggling would not be limited to food and medicine but will definitely extend to drugs, weapons and other illegal imports.

As for the claims filed recently to stop the export of gas to Israel, Farghaly doubted any court to commute for the Supreme Administrative Court which was issued in 2010 to compel the Government to amend the prices of these Convention and to consider it at the same time a sovereign and political decision in which may not be to eliminated. He stressed that execution of this policy guaranteed the control of the exports.

In response to the rumors about the agreement to export gas is not of sovereignty Farghaly revealed that during his ruling of the Department of legislation of the State Council, a decision was issued from the People Council to pas a law authorizing the former Minister of Petroleum Sameh Fahmi to negotiate on behalf of Egypt and to contract with any company to sell Egyptian gas. This law allowed Fahmy to determine the price and quantities which he and the purchasing company agree upon without referring to the parliament, and thus the decision to sell gas to Israel is legal and may not be canceled.

Farghali went on: Later on, an agreement was sent to us in the Department of Legislation to sell Egyptian gas to the east of the Mediterranean company and it is an Egyptian joint stock company. The agreement did not mention the price and the quantities saying that it is “confidential and may not be viewed” The contract was put in a legal cover but corruption is plagued by it through the low prices and the increase of quantities from the normal rates.

Later on, Sameh Fahmy wanted to renegotiate with the company to adjust prices. The People's Assembly and the legislation counsel approved on that, but it has not happened yet.

As for the Camp David agreement which the Council of State annually lawsuits to cancel, Farghaly explained that this agreement can not be officially canceled because it is also a sovereign issue. However, its content allows new negotiation about its items according to the political variables in the region. As is clearly visible, there are many serious changes that must be considered to amend three areas of Sinaa and to increase the density of the Egyptian military in the region (c) adjacent to the eastern borders so as to ensure full control of it.

The counselor Kamal Al- Lamai, the former head of the administrative courts agrees with him stressing that all the lawsuits aiming to cancel the wall, the export of gas and the Camp David are “useless” because all these issues come from the executive power as the governing authority and not managerial authority. Therefore, they are not included in the administrative courts. The establishment of the separation wall is related to national security, which the government asks for in front of the parliament.

Al- Lamai called to modify the agreements of Camp David and to export gas “because there is no eternal agreement between two states but they are all re-examined according to the needs and interests of each country if circumstances changed and all agreements subject to change”. As is obvious, the natural gas agreement is unfair to Egypt and it must be re-balanced financially or eliminated completely if it is found that the continuation of export may harm securing the required volumes of gas in the domestic market in Egypt.

Al- Lamai added that the Camp David agreement was signed under the certain political and military circumstances that have now changed completely and it is beyond reasonable doubt that the number of Egyptian military forces residing in the region (c) must be modified. That is because there is a serious threat to our eastern border, whether by the Israeli army itself or by the armed terrorist groups that may penetrate the border into the Sinaa.

The Ambassador Ibrahim Yasri, the former attorney of the Foreign Ministry and the countermand lawyer sees that the provision that the decision to establish a barrier is not the concern of the courts is “improper” and would be stricken upon before the Supreme Administrative Court. That is because it is not a sovereign act at all and the previous regime had began to create it in an administrative decision especially that the region (c) in which the wall is being build is free from aspects of Egyptian sovereignty under the Camp David agreement and does not involve any military installations and the security presence in it is limited.

Yasri added that despite the verdict that was issued was disappointing to his hopes and the hopes of the Palestinians, the information available confirms the cessation of construction of the separation wall, and that the armed iron which was moved to the border to be used in construction have been returned to Cairo once again. In terms of security, the government discovered that the building of the wall will lead to manipulation and expanding by digging tunnels and smuggling which has become a profitable career. However, the opening of the passage periodically or permanently will decrease the negative aspects.

Yasri still lives in a state of anxiety about the verdict which he got from the Supreme Administrative to amend the prices of gas export to Israel, stressing that the implementation of this provision is a pressure that must be exploited by Egypt as a legal response to Israeli violations and not only condemnation, denunciation and calling the ambassadors. He added “If America is the one putting the pressure on Egypt not to amend the Convention of the gas then a compromise must be reached. The important thing is that Egypt wins from this export”.

Yasri pointed out that although the judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court was positive in terms of price adjustment, but it was «unprecedented» when considering the agreement in itself a sovereign decision “This is unreasonable, because the gas is like any other commodity as vegetables and fruits. I cannot describe the process of export of a normal commodity as an extraordinary sovereign act”. According to Yasri, dozens of previous verdicts of the courts of the State Council have violated the rule in this regard.
© Islam Times