Egypt PM: Peace Treaty With Israel ‘Not Sacred’

Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf, during an interview with Turkish television Thursday, said his country’s 1979 peace treaty with Israel is “not sacred” and subject to change.

Mr. Sharaf said the agreement, signed at Camp David in the United States, is “always open to modification if that would benefit the region or a just peace.”

The country’s military rulers have repeatedly said they are committed to all international pacts signed by former governments, including the Egypt-Israel Treaty.

Altering the accord without Israeli or U.S. consent could lead to the loss of billions of dollars in aid from Washington.

Tensions between Egypt and Israel, which have been rising since former president Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in February, flared after a cross-border attack last month.

Cairo accused Israeli forces of shooting dead five Egyptian security guards during gun battles with Palestinian militants who Israel says had earlier ambushed and killed eight Israelis.

Egyptian protesters stormed the Israeli embassy in Cairo last week in anger at Israel for the border killings.

On Thursday, about 200 Jordanian demonstrators demanded their government close Israel’s embassy in the capital, Amman, expel the ambassador and annul a 1994 peace treaty with the Jewish state.

The small group of protesters had gathered at a mosque close to the embassy complex, but they were kept away by large numbers of Jordanian police.

Egypt and Jordan are the only two Arab countries to have normalized relations with Israel and their capitals are the only two cities in the region where Israel has an embassy.