EGYPT AND ISRAEL: Israel approves first Egyptian military deployment in Sinai since 1979

Responding to a request from Egypt, Israel has approved the deployment of Egyptian troops in Sinai amid civil unrest in Egypt.

According to news reports, two battalions -- about 800 soldiers -- are headed for the resort of Sharm el Sheik. This is a first since the 1979 peace treaty between the two countries, which limits the security presence in Sinai to police forces.

Overseeing the security provisions of the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt is the Multinational Force and Observers, which issued a statement Monday saying it "continues to conduct its mission of peace in the current extraordinary circumstances in Egypt" but said nothing about the reported military deployment.

Reuven Rivlin, speaker of Israel's parliament, or Knesset, has urgently asked the Knesset's legal advisor whether allowing the Egyptian army into Sinai requires a vote in parliament.

Hebrew media reported Monday that Rivlin thinks the legislature may have to approve any break from the treaty, which defines the peninsula as a demilitarized zone. This was the case in 2005, when Israel handed over the so-called Philadelphi corridor between Gaza and Egypt to about 750 Egyptian border guards after Israel's disengagement from the Gaza Strip. Then too it had been Rivlin's initiative, supported by the parliament's legal advisor.

-- Batsheva Sobelman in Jerusalem

Comments

[sam]

@freddy please.
@terry.
no doubt you two idiots live in a country that hasn't got any problems never had any problems and has a clear blue sky above your childish heads when your parents wake you in the morning for school,well when you do bother to go, learn some history,you might find out more about us israeli people,other than the garbage you spout that in your minds makes you sound and feel important next time you need help and its a jewish person to your rescue,dont forget to refuse help and die or go to jail instead,mind you, you both sound young and full of crap,so make sure mommy wipes your back sides before you both go out.
thank you.

[freddy please]

love to see the Zionists panicking....now Egypt..then the people of Palestine will rise up....

[Terry]

The main concern for the future is that the Israelis stop committing their atrocities towards the Palestinian people. Got that Zionists?

[barry]

As an Israeli and like other Israelis ,we all have interest in a peaceful quite southern border. Despite the fact that Egyptian Israeli peace had never been "worm" ,that peace has brought a sense of stability to that part of the region. We all hope for keeping that on for the good of all of us.

[Jehudah Ben-Israel]

It must be very clear: Israel has no interest what-so-ever in contributing in one form or another to the internal affairs of Egypt, its southern neighbor.

The single interest that is of course a concern for Israelis and Jews all over, within and without the Jewish national home, is to ensure that the peace with Egypt, based on the 1979 treaty, will hold after a political change in Egypt, if one indeed takes place.

Shouldn't this be a concern for any peace loving person on earth...??