Egyptian court dismisses suit against president to amend peace accord with Israel

Complainants had claimed Egypt’s revolution obligates leaders to review all previously signed agreements

By Elhanan Miller 30 October 2012, 5:36 pm

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Elhanan Miller is the former Arab affairs reporter for The Times of Israel

Egyptian president Anwar Sadat addresses the Knesset during his visit to Israel on November 20, 1977 (photo credit: Flash90)

Three members of Egypt’s revolutionary youth movement filed a lawsuit Monday against President Mohammed Morsi, Prime Minister Hisham Kandil, and foreign minister Muhammad Kamel Amr, demanding the leaders amend the Camp David Peace accords with Israel. But the case was swiftly dismissed in an Egyptian court on Tuesday.

Amr Hamed, Haitham Khatib and Badawi Nagilah, members of Egypt’s Revolution Youth Union, claimed that the Camp David Peace accords signed between Israel and Egypt in 1979 harm the interests of the Egyptian people, and should be amended or annulled altogether.

They told Egyptian daily Al-Ahram that the Egyptian revolution obligated the new regime to review all agreements signed by the previous regime and amend or cancel them, if need be.

Hamed, one of the complainants, told Egyptian press that the peace agreement’s security appendix limited the presence of the Egyptian army in Sinai, thereby allowing the proliferation of Jihadist activity in the Egyptian peninsula.

The case was discussed in an administrative court in Cairo, and swiftly dismissed. The court said that it lacked the authority to rule on a matter which is political in nature.