CAIRO: Experts disagreed on whether mediating the prisoner swap between Israel and Hamas will bolster the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces’ (SCAF) image in and outside of Egypt.
Analyst Emad Gad told Daily News Egypt that mediating the prisoner swap deal is an achievement for the Egyptian intelligence not SCAF.
Gad said that the deal has been on the table since 2009, however Syria and Iran pressured Hamas not to accept it so ousted president Hosni Mubarak does not get any credit.
"Now Iran has little influence on Hamas and Syria is struggling with the revolution as Hamas tries to relocate their office outside Damascus," he explained.
Mubarak’s fallen regime had tense relations with Syria and Iran, which became Egypt’s rival in the region, striving to overshadow Egypt’s efforts in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by supporting Hamas.
Gad believed that the deal would have no effect on Egypt’s position in the region.
"Empowering a country’s role in the region depends on its respect for human rights, holding free and fair elections and being stable and united on the internal front, not brokering a prisoner exchange deal," he said.
However, Abdel Aleem Mohamed, political analyst at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, disagreed saying that the deal is "one of the few achievements of SCAF."
"The prisoner swap deal mediated by the Egyptian authorities validates Egypt’s role in the peace process and proves the respect Egypt commands from both Hamas and Israel," he added.
Since SCAF took over power on Feb. 11, the Egyptian Intelligence was hailed for two achievements in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In May, Intelligence chief Murad Muafi, who replaced Omar Suleiman, managed to broker a unity deal between rival Palestinian factions Fateh and Hamas.
He also succeeded in clinching a swap deal between Israel and Hamas, releasing Gilad Shalit in exchange for 1027 Palestinian prisoners. Mubarak failed to achieve any progress in both issues during his reign.
However, Mohamed believed that the negative sentiment towards SCAF’s violations still hold, especially following the bloody Maspero clashes between the armed forces and Coptic protesters which erupted on Oct.9, leaving 27 dead and over 300 injured.
"This deal will not affect the sentiments of the Egyptian people towards SCAF and their belief that it needs to hand over power to civilian rule as soon as possible," he said.
While Gad maintained the Arab Spring facilitated the deals, Mohamed said that the Egyptian revolution played a vital role in materializing them.
"If it wasn’t for the Egyptian revolution, the prisoner swap between Israel and Hamas would’ve never happened," Mohamed said.
Mubarak, described as Israel’s "strategic treasure" in the region, was known for being biased towards Israel and the United States at the expense of Hamas.
"The revolution created hope for Hamas that Egypt could play an objective role in mediating between it and Israel and standing at the same distance from both parties," he added.
Strategic expert Sameh Seif Al-Yazal agreed with Mohamed saying that Hamas became more cooperative with Egyptian authorities after Mubarak’s fall.
Al-Yazal added that despite the internal turmoil facing Egypt following the revolution, "It proved that it still holds an essential role in the region and has succeeded where several Arab countries have failed."
Israel and Hamas have held numerous rounds of talks through German and Egyptian mediators, which failed during the five years Shalit was detained. Both sides have been eager to form good ties with the new Egyptian leadership, which brokered the deal.
Shalit himself voiced the experts’ sentiment in an interview with Egyptian TV, following his release on Tuesday.
"I think the Egyptians succeeded [in achieving the deal] because of their good relations with Hamas and the Israeli side. These good relations helped complete the deal," Shalit said.
Egyptian state TV showed released Palestinian prisoners chanting "long live Egypt," from their buses while being transported to Gaza and the West Bank.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed the release of Shalit while praising Egypt for its role in clinching the exchange deal between Israel and the Palestinians.
"The chancellor thanks everyone involved in Shalit’s release. Her special thanks go to the Egyptian government whose role has been crucial in the past months," her spokesman Steffan Seibert said in a statement.
"It is to be hoped that Israel and Egypt’s successful collaboration in this regard will lead to a return to good-neighborly relations between the two countries after the period of recent tensions," the statement said.
Egyptian-Israeli relations received several blows since Mubarak’s ouster, including the storming of the Israeli embassy last month by disgruntled protesters, condemning the Israeli killing of at least six Egyptian soldiers on the border, in addition to the recurring attacks on gas pipelines that transfer gas to Israel through Sinai.
However, Israel’s response to these incidents was very "rational," demonstrating its eagerness to protect the 1979 peace treaty with Egypt, according to Mohamed.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak apologized last week to Egypt for the deaths of its soldiers in cross-border shootings two months ago.
Barak’s office said in a statement, that he had decided "to apologize before Egypt on the deaths of all Egyptian police while carrying out their duties, as a result of gunfire by our [Israeli] forces."
Netanyahu refused to take the same stance with Turkey for the killing of its activists on the Gaza flotilla which attempted to break the Israeli siege on Gaza in 2010. –Additional reporting by Agencies.
