Ever since Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi issued his national appeal before Egypt’s parliament regarding the military partnership with Saudi Arabia, Arabs have realized that the prospect of conflict has become a present reality.
When a country like Egypt makes a decision of this kind and adopts a position with such far-reaching implications, it is clear that its foremost consideration is Egypt itself and the protection of its national standing.
Wars are not a pastime for Egypt. But Egypt knows better than most how dangerous their sparks can be and how easily they can spread, particularly in a tense and rapidly escalating regional and global climate.
Of course, the first option, and the first choice, in Cairo, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and the rest of the Arab Gulf is the path of reason. Take precautions, then place your trust in God. This is the difference between states and militias.
The former bear responsibility for their people, their territory, their security and their safety. The latter do not know the difference, nor do they care to.
Militias have crossed every boundary and violated every norm and convention in order to set peaceful havens ablaze. They have disregarded agreements and unleashed a costly, bloody and futile race of polarization, blackmail and recklessness.
Take another look at this volcanic map, and your first impression will only be reinforced: Egypt stands at the heart of the storms stretching from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. For Egypt, Palestine has been both a domestic and a foreign concern from the very beginning, and it remains so today.
The arrogance of the militias, their lawlessness, their determination to expand in every direction, and their willingness to jeopardize the sovereignty and security of states through threats and attacks have brought the region, for the first time amid its many crises, into its most far-reaching, deliberate and targeted crisis yet.
Not to mention that it is also the crisis most deliberately directed at civilians, innocent people and their livelihoods.
It is a crisis, or rather an ordeal, in which indiscriminate and deliberate violence have become indistinguishable, running in parallel with the deliberate aim of widening the harm and deepening the wounds of the other side.
