Enhancing Egyptian-Israeli Ties under the Trump Administration

Posted: April 2nd, 2017

By Haisam Hassanein

Haisam Hassanein is a Glazer fellow at The Washington Institute, where he will focus on economic relations between Israel and Arab states. He earned his B.A. in political science from Lebanon Valley College in Pennsylvania. After completing an internship at the Institute in 2014, he enrolled into a M.A. program in Middle Eastern studies at Tel Aviv University, where he was named the graduate school valedictorian.

Egyptian President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi is at the White House on Monday with the high hopes of receiving strong support from U.S. President Donald Trump. One of the major issues that the Egyptian President will surely stress to attain this favor is the sustainment of the Egypt-Israel peace treaty.

While the Egypt-Israel peace treaty is significant, and Egypt deserves credit for honoring it, signing a treaty was unthinkable nearly 40 years ago when the two countries became peace partners, and there was deep mistrust regarding intentions between the two sides. Coupled with the existing hostile relations between the Jewish state and its Arab neighbors, striking the peace deal with Israel put Egypt in a bad light.

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