Israel and Egypt have agreed in principle to a deployment of 750 soldiers from the Egyptian border guard along the Philadelphi route. Next week, the joint military-security committee will meet to decide on the detailed protocol of the deployment and initial the agreement, after which it will be brought before the cabinet and the Knesset for a vote.
According to the agreement, the Egyptian troops will take up positions along the 14-kilometer southern border of the Gaza Strip, from the Mediterranean to the border with Israel, near Kerem Shalom. The Egyptians will apparently deploy in September, and Israel will withdraw from the Philadelphi route in October.
Egyptian presence is supposed to help stop arms smuggling from Sinai to the Gaza Strip.
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A main issue ironed out during the Cairo meeting was that of responsibility, with Israel demanding that the Egyptians expressly pledge to put a stop to smuggling from its territory, with the final wording stating that each side would be responsible in its own territory.
Israeli sources say the wording is not significant for Israel, since from the moment the Israel Defense Forces leaves the Philadelphi route, it will no longer be responsible for the border there.
Another problematic clause involved the linkage between the Philadelphi agreements and the military appendix to the Israel-Egypt peace treaty, which dictates security arrangements.
According to the terms of the new agreement, so as not to contradict the terms of the peace treaty, the Egyptian forces are not to bring tanks or anti-tank weapons, or construct permanent military infrastructure. Its soldiers will carry light arms only, and be outfitted with observation equipment and armored vehicles suitable for police.
To insure the agreement has a military rather than a political nature, Israel will be represented at its signing by an IDF officer with the rank of major general or brigadier general.
Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chair MK Yuval Steinitz, who leads opposition to the agreement, said Monday, "The agreement damages the main achievement of Israel's peace treaty with Egypt the demilitarization of Egyptian forces from Sinai." Steinitz, who called the agreement "wretched," said it would not help prevent smuggling into the Gaza Strip since Israel is allowing the Palestinians to build a port.
Preparations to leave the Philadelphi route are underway. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will lead a discussion on the future of the tax union between Israel and the Gaza Strip, which may also touch on control of border crossings to the Strip after disengagement.
The Egyptians announced at the Cairo meeting that they would shortly be dispatching a large force of security advisors to assist the Palestinians.
The IDF and the Palestinian Authority security forces held their first coordination meeting Monday after a month-long hiatus. During the meeting, the Palestinians presented the details of their deployment plans for the Gaza Strip after disengagement.
The Palestinian forces presented details of their plans to protect the evacuators and the evacuees from sniper fire, rocket and Qassam attacks, and to prevent the looting of evacuated Israeli houses in the settlements.
Israeli sources said the mood at the meeting was good. The commander of IDF forces in the Gaza Strip, Brigadier General Aviv Kochavi, warned against continued rocket fire on Gush Katif and told the Palestinians that if they could not put a stop to it, the IDF would do so.
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