Posted on 08/10/2012 5:18:35 AM PDT by SJackson
Egyptian troops, light tanks, armored vehicles and attack helicopters are pouring into the Sinai desert to root out increasingly aggressive Islamic militants in the most significant easing to date of a key provision in the landmark 1979 peace treaty with Israel: The demilitarization of the peninsula.
For more than 30 years, Egyptian soldiers with heavy weapons were virtually banned from much of Sinai to create a buffer between the longtime enemies. Now, Israel has green-lighted the surge in hopes militants on its doorstep will be defeated.
But talk of formally changing the treaty remains just that, talk.
The reason may lie in the delicate realities of the new Egypt, where the fiercely anti-Israel Muslim Brotherhood has risen to political power — with one of its own as Egypt's first president since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak last year. The Islamist group has said that Egypt will continue to abide by the accord. At the same time, it has repeatedly called for changes in the treaty's limits on troops in Sinai, seen as humiliating.
But its calls may be mainly rhetoric for an Egyptian public among which anti-Israel feeling is high and amending the deal is popular.
Actually renegotiating the accord would require diplomatic gymnastics for the Brotherhood to keep its vow never to meet with Israeli officials. And any deal could be spun as the Brotherhood signing a peace agreement with its nemesis, no matter how much technical deniability the group tries to maintain.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
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If Israel attacks Iran, would not want to be a Westerner in Egypt. Things will get ugly.
For more than 30 years, Egyptian soldiers with heavy weapons were virtually banned from much of Sinai to create a buffer between the longtime enemies.
The truth is that most Egyptian offensive weapons were not "virtually banned" from the Sinai as the author states, but are in fact, actually banned by the 1979 peace treaty which demilitarized the Sinai and limits Egypt's military deployment there.
The treaty was the result of the 1978 Camp David Accords which set the parameters for the return to Egypt of the Sinai, which Israel had captured during the Six-Day War in 1967.
The treaty was also the catalyst for the assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat by militant muslims opposed to the treaty.
A fatwa approving the assassination had been issued by Islamic Imam Omar Abdel-Rahman, who was later convicted in the US for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
The assassination of Sadat was carried out by members of the Islamic Jihad.
Gosharootie. With all these tanks, gun copters and well-equipped regular troops, we’ve gotten rid of all the terrorists and gunrunners. Now what’ll we do today?
Oooh! Oooh! oOOH! Pick me, commander! Ooooh! Yes, you with the flamethrower? Umm...uhh....let’s invade Israel!
...a key provision in the landmark 1979 peace treaty with Israel: The demilitarization of the peninsula. For more than 30 years, Egyptian soldiers with heavy weapons were virtually banned from much of Sinai to create a buffer between the longtime enemies. Now, Israel has green-lighted the surge in hopes militants on its doorstep will be defeated.This isn't new -- a few (four? five?) years ago the Israelis okayed partial remilitarization to stop the smuggling. And, the Egyptians proved less than useless, as always.
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