This week, Israelis and Americans were greeted by the happy sight of another citizen freed from a foreign prison. Ilan Grapel, a dual American-Israeli citizen was reunited with his mother in Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport on Oct. 27, in return for 25 Egyptians held in Israel for non-security related crimes. This is the second prisoner swap in as many weeks consummated by Egypt and Israel; the ruling military council in Cairo served as the primary mediator for the deal between Israel and Hamas in which Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was released from Gaza in return for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners.
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Such calculated cooperation may not stir any visions of the warm handshake between the countries' leaders on the White House lawn in 1979 -- but it does prove that they are still able to seize opportunities to work together in the post-Mubarak era. Despite the public frostiness -- driven by the current turmoil in Egypt and dormant Israeli-Palestinian peace talks -- Egypt has shown no signs of transforming the "cold peace" into open war.
Of course, there are challenges: The riot and storming of Israel's embassy in Cairo could have -- if not for President Barack Obama's intervention -- irreversibly harmed the peace, and the rise of Islamist politicians in the coming election will represent another major hurdle. But tearing up the 1979 peace treaty would greatly harm Egypt's relationship with the United States, which is Cairo's primary arms supplier and provides it with $1.5 billion in aid annually -- one of the many risks that will likely convince Egypt to find ways to keep the relationship with Israel alive for reasons of national interest.
Creative partnerships can still rebuild these fraying ties, and the recent examples of collaboration with Egypt may open the door for new opportunities. The most promising of these are Israeli and U.S. efforts to help Egypt's struggling economy. Since the revolution began, the Egyptian economy's downward trajectory has continued unabated. According to the latest IMF report issued in late August, foreign currency reserves -- which were already low at $36 billion at the start of this year -- have since fallen by more than half. Under military rule, official unemployment still hovers at 12 percent overall, and 25 percent for Egyptians under 30 years old; experts believe the real figures are far worse.
Compounding this dismal news has been a severe global economic recession, which has constrained the ability of the international community to come to Egypt's aid. U.S. officials have thus far limited added assistance to debt forgiveness and loan guarantees.
Egypt's economic crisis has profound political implications. The success of radical groups in the Middle East has often been based on their ability to exploit a deficit of dignity and dearth of economic opportunity, winning support from some of the poorest segments of society. With domestic radical movements proliferating in recent months, don't expect Egypt to be the exception. As pivotal democratic elections near, now is the time for the United States to lay the groundwork that can help bring about further cooperation between Jerusalem and Cairo.
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