(Newsweek) Dan Ephron - Most analysts and former officials believe whoever ends up ruling in Cairo - even the Muslim Brotherhood - will be reluctant to antagonize Israel or other Western countries. "They will have to focus on internal matters for the first two or three years," says Giora Eiland, a retired general and Israel's former national security adviser. "They will need American aid and foreign investment. If they take control, they're not going to rush into war." Already, guns and rocket launchers flow from Egypt to Hamas under the border through a network of tunnels dug by Palestinians. Israelis worry that a government headed by the Muslim Brotherhood would allow the flow of more sophisticated weapons. "This would make Hamas much stronger and more difficult to deal with," says Eiland. Even if Egypt stabilizes, analysts believe the Israeli military will have to retrain and reequip itself for a range of new scenarios - and that means more defense spending.
2011-02-01 10:09:57Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive