Tzipi Livni entered this porcelain shop like an elephant.

Why did she do it? The political correspondents, most of whom are merely reporters of political gossip, assume that the motive was personal: she spoke on the eve of Ehud Barak's meeting with Mubarak. Her real aim was to spoil it for Barak.

Perhaps she saw it as an opportunity to polish her image. For weeks now, the security establishment has been running a public relations campaign concerning the arms in the Gaza Strip. Its agents in the media tell us every day about the quantities of arms and explosives that are flowing into the Strip from Egypt through the tunnels under the border. The Egyptians are accused of closing their eyes. Livni wanted to ride this crest.

Livni's problem is common to all of Israel: the inability and unwillingness to see the point of view of the other side, especially if the other side is Arab. (The other side has, of course, a similar problem.)

The Egyptians consider themselves the natural leaders of the Arab world. President Mubarak and his followers are very sensitive to the accusations of their enemies - especially the Muslim Brotherhood - that they are serving the Israeli occupation at a time when Israel is starving the Gaza population and killing their leaders. Mubarak has no wish to do anything against Hamas that would seem to confirm these charges.

It is quite possible that the Egyptian authorities would be unable to prevent the traffic even if they wanted to. Most of the smuggled items are unobtainable in the besieged Gaza Strip, from milk powder to cigarettes. The smugglers can do business with the Sinai Bedouins or bribe the Egyptian policemen - who most certainly do not cherish the idea of stabbing their Arab brothers in the back while they are fighting against the Israeli occupation.

The Israeli public lives in a bubble. They cannot imagine that the same people who they know as "terrorists" are the heroes of the Arab world, that the detested "murderers" are the holy martyrs of the Arabs, that the "terrorism" is seen by the Arabs (and not only by them) as a heroic resistance to a monstrous occupation, that the "smugglers" are seen by the Arabs the same way as we saw "our fine boys" of the Palmach who smuggled arms under the noses of the British and risked their lives in order to break the blockade.

In the eyes of the Egyptians - and, indeed, of all Arabs - the Palestinian people are defending themselves against a brutal oppressor. The Palestinian martyrs restore the honor of the entire Arab nation. Even the Egyptians who support Mubarak and believe that there is no choice but to cooperate with the Americans and to keep the peace with Israel are torn between conflicting emotions.

If one does not understand the psychological and political dilemma of the Egyptian people, one is liable to do foolish things. And nothing could be more foolish than the Israeli action against those returning from the Hajj last week.

The pilgrimage to Mecca is, as everybody knows, one of the five pillars of Islam. A person starting on this voyage, with all its hardships, is much respected by all Muslims.

The million and a half inhabitants of the Gaza strip are prevented from fulfilling this duty, unless they undergo a "security check" by the Israeli army, often accompanied by harassment and humiliation. On Israel's demand, the Egyptians have closed the only border station that connects the Gaza Strip with the outside world: the Rafah crossing.

Two thousand pilgrims from Gaza have broken this blockade and crossed the Rafah border. It seems that the Egyptians cooperated, either openly or by closing their eyes. Indeed, how can an Egyptian leader block the path of devout Muslims on their way to fulfill one of the holiest duties? But the chiefs of the Israeli security establishment were furious.

The problem became worse when the pilgrims were on their way back from Mecca. When their ferry reached the Sinai shore, Israel demanded that the Egyptians block the Rafah crossing and compel the pilgrims to return through Israeli territory. This would have delivered Hamas members and other "wanted" people into the hands of the Israeli Security Service.

For the Egyptians, that was an altogether intolerable demand. If they had acceded to it, they would have looked to the whole Muslim world like collaborators who had turned over to the Jews pious Muslims returning from the holy Hajj.

The end was foreseeable: the Egyptians allowed all the pilgrims to return through Rafah. The Israeli government had scored an own goal.

All this would not have happened if the Foreign Minister had persuaded her colleagues to close their eyes and shut up. She didn't. They would not have listened to her anyhow.

Something tells me that this white bird will not be flying very far.

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