by Marwa Yahya

CAIRO, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- The agreement between Egypt and Israel on increasing Egyptian border forces in a restive northern part of the Sinai Peninsula will benefit the two sides at the security level and push forward rooting extremist threats there, according to political and military experts.

"It is a win-win decision for the two neighbors," said Samir Farag, an Egyptian senior military expert.

The Egyptian military said last week that a joint military committee with Israel agreed to amend a security agreement between the two countries, increasing the number and capabilities of border guards near the Rafah border with the Gaza Strip.

Egyptian armed forces spokesperson Gharib Abdel-Hafez said that the security deal is an annex to the 1979 Camp David Peace Accords signed by late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and then Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, allowing Egypt to maintain a civilian police force only in the eastern strip of the Sinai Peninsula.

The peace agreement between the two sides restricted Egypt's military presence along the border towns with Israel.

For many years, Egypt has battled terrorists in northern Sinai, but anti-security attacks have expanded since the military-led ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi in 2013 following the mass protests against his one-year rule.

"Deploying more Egyptian troops in the town of Rafah is in a bid to strengthen national security," Farag, also a former manager of the defense ministry's moral affairs department, told Xinhua.

He explained that the Camp David Accords stipulated dividing Sinai into three zones: A for complete military presence, B for border guard forces, and C for civil police forces.

Zone C is the area nearest to the shared border with Israel.

Israel has now officially given the Egyptian military greater control over the border area, which is a significant step for beefing up confidence in the Egyptian armed forces that made the northeastern borders of Egypt safe after years of threats and terrorism, according to Farag.

Wilayat Sinai, a Sinai-based group affiliated with the Islamic State, has posed security threats to both Egypt and Israel, the military expert highlighted.

Farag added that the Egyptian armed forces in recent years have been fighting to uproot terrorism in the triangle of Rafah, el-Arish and Sheikh Zuweid towns, which are located in zone C.

"But we had to seek permission from Israel before deploying military forces according to the Camp David Accords," he said, adding that based on the new amendment, Egypt's military forces are allowed to be dispatched permanently.

Meanwhile, Tariq Fahmy, professor of political sciences with Cairo University, pointed out that amending the security deal is a political rather than a military decision.

It is the first time to amend the peace accord, a move that will open the door for other possible amendments in the future, Fahmy said, noting that the decision signals stable Egyptian-Israeli relations and the keenness of both countries for advancing the bilateral ties.

The decision came after a meeting between Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Sept. 13 in Sharm el-Sheikh, a Red Sea resort city in Sinai, and both the agreement and Bennett's visit are clear signs of the warming bilateral relations, Fahmy said.

On the other hand, Samir Ragheb, chairman of the Arab Institution for Development and Strategic Studies, termed the security amendment deal as "legalizing the current status."

Since 2011, Egypt has dispatched troops to zone C on many occasions to curb the terrorist elements, and the Israeli side hasn't opposed the increasing military presence, he said, adding that over the past 10 years Egypt and Israel have coordinated security efforts in this regard.

"Israel, already targeted by Hamas and Hezbollah, needed to root out the extremist threats in northern Sinai," Ragheb said, adding that the latest security agreement will benefit the two countries. Enditem

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)