Arab League chief: Egypt-Israel peace treaty not as sacred as the Koran

The Secretary-General of the Arab League, Nabil Elaraby, told Al-Arabiya TV that the Egypt-Israel peace treaty is not as sacred as the Koran.

In an interview with Al-Arabiya TV, Elaraby, who served as Egypt's Foreign Minister before his appointment to the Arab League in July this year, said that if one of the sides breached the treaty, signed in 1979, the other side reserves the right to amend or annul it, according to an Israel Radio report.

	Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby.
	Photo by: AP

The peace treaty is not like the Koran or the New Testament, Elaraby said.

Earlier Friday, the British weekly "The Economist" reported that Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that Israel will soon allow Egypt to deploy thousands of troops in the Sinai Peninsula.

Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin responded to Barak's interview with the Economist on Friday, saying that the deployment of Egyptian troops in Sinai, a violation of the Camp David Accords and the Egypt-Israel peace treaty, may need the Knesset's approval – not only the government's.

Haaretz reported earlier Friday that Barak said he would agree to send thousands more Egyptian soldiers into eastern Sinai in order to end the anarchy there, saying it would be "a clear Israeli interest" since it would stop smuggling of weapons and people from Gaza.

The move came after the series of terror attacks in southern Israel on August 18, which left eight people dead. Israel and Egypt believe the gunmen responsible for the attacks were militants that infiltrated from the Gaza Strip via Egypt's neighboring Sinai desert.

Officials also suspect that militants from Sinai had also joined the Gaza gunmen in carrying out the attacks on Israelis. Israel agreed Thursday to a joint investigation alongside Egypt of the events surrounding the terror attacks.

Public anti-Israel sentiment in Egypt culminated Friday in a 'million-man protest' in Cairo against the peace accord with Israel in the wake of the recent events on the two countries' shared border.

Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News