It is painful for any Arab state to be accused of colluding with Israel. But so feeble has Egypt looked as the war in Gaza has unfolded that it has become the second villain in the crisis, a target of ridicule and sneering on Arab television stations.

The battering Egypt has taken is, in some ways, the inevitable result of the weakness of pro-western Arab states to influence the US and Israel, and impose a peace agenda in the Arab-Israeli conflict. But Cairo's predicament - exacerbated as a result of its border with Gaza - is also a product of conflicting pressures on the Hosni Mubarak regime, as well as its own sense of insecurity.