Israeli President Shimon Peres on Monday warned the Muslim Brotherhood against breaking their nations' peace treaty.
Since the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak last year, Brotherhood leaders have occasionally said they would put the unpopular 1979 peace treaty with Israel to a public referendum, adding some uncertainty to Egyptian-Israeli relations.
In an interview with CNN's Elise Labott, Peres said, “They have to decide if they want to break it, and they will have to pay for it,” responding to a question about whether the fragile peace will continue or give way to a deep freeze.
“I think Egypt’s problem is not Israel, all this revolution has very little at all to do with Israel. They don’t have a plan. They are preachers not strategists,” Peres said, adding, “They have to come up with solutions; otherwise the angry generation will return to the squares.”
“They have to decide how Egypt is going to produce bread for its people,” Peres continued. “Take tourism for example. If they won't permit the tourists to wear the clothes they are used to, including bikinis, they will lose one of the most important branches” of the Egyptian economy.
“Praying isn't enough; it's a spiritual commitment, not an economic doctrine. They must have an economic doctrine that fits the age,” Peres concluded.
