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Last update - 13:08 05/02/2008
Foreign Min. backs Egyptian request to double its forces on Gaza border
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Gaza, Tzipi Livni, Israel 

The Foreign Ministry is recommending that Israel allow Egypt to double the number of soldiers it has stationed along its borders with Israel and Gaza - something that Cairo has long wanted to do, but that Jerusalem has hitherto vetoed.

Since the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty strictly limits the forces that Egypt can deploy along these borders, any increase would require Israel's consent.

Foreign Ministry Tzipi Livni plans to present her ministry's recommendation Wednesday at a special meeting in the Prime Minister's Office concerning the Gaza-Egypt border.
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It is not yet clear whether this will be a meeting of the full diplomatic-security cabinet or a smaller forum. Either way, however, the goal will be to formulate a new policy for the border in light of Hamas's success in breaching it two weeks ago.

Livni said in a closed meeting on Monday that the problem at the Egyptian border required a twofold solution: the reinforcement of troops and the construction of a fence along the frontier.

A special agreement signed by Jerusalem and Cairo following Israel's disengagement from Gaza in August 2005 allowed the Egyptians to station 750 border policemen along the Gaza border, in addition to the regular policemen stationed there under the Israel-Egypt peace treaty. Since then, Egypt has repeatedly sought to double this number, to 1,500, and the United States has backed its request, but Israel refused.

Now, however, the Foreign Ministry recommends approving the request. It also recommends allowing these soldiers to be equipped with more sophisticated weaponry than is currently allowed under the peace treaty.

The Defense Ministry and the Israel Defense Forces strongly oppose allowing Egypt to upgrade its forces along the border. The defense establishment argues that the upgraded forces would constitute a security threat to Israel, and that the precedent entailed by reopening the peace treaty is dangerous.

However, the Foreign Ministry has prepared a legal opinion which argues that allowing the force increase would not require reopening the peace treaty. As evidence, it cites the agreement signed after the disengagement, which was not considered an amendment to the treaty.

Until recently, the Foreign Ministry shared the defense establishment's opposition to a force increase, arguing that an increase was unnecessary, and that Egypt could do much more to stop the weapons smuggling into Gaza with its existing forces.

According to a senior government official, it changed its mind mainly because "the situation on the border between Gaza and Egypt has changed, and therefore, elements of Israel's position on this matter must change as well."

The official rejected the idea that doubling the number of Egyptian soldiers on the border would constitute a threat to Israel, and argued that this would help Egypt cut down on weapons smuggling and terrorist infiltrations across the border.

"A serious country must constantly weigh which is worse," he said. "Is it preferable to have another 750 Egyptian soldiers in the area, or for a new status quo to crystallize in which the border is wide open and there are not enough troops to seal it?"

The Foreign Ministry began studying the Egyptian request two months ago, but the issue gained urgency after Hamas blew up the border wall two weeks ago. That same day, Livni ordered Aaron Abramovitz, the ministry's director general, to set up a special task force to deal with the issue. The task force was headed by Yaakov Hadas, the ministry's deputy director general for the Middle East, who was summoned back from meetings in Washington to take on the job.

His group defined the situation on the Gaza border as "a strategic shift that threatens the continuation of the diplomatic negotiations" with the Palestinians, and therefore began seeking ways of altering the situation diplomatically.


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      1.   Egyptian request to double its forces on Gaza border 03:25  |  George 05/02/08
      2.   Defence Ministry has more experience than FM on topic of Security 04:01  |  Gili 05/02/08
      3.   Egypt`s request 04:18  |  Natallie Durson 05/02/08
      4.   Good Idea - and one that was suggested weeks ago 04:33  |  Mark Lincoln 05/02/08
      5.   Trust 04:34  |  moishe 05/02/08
      6.   Let me get this right..... 04:35  |  Johnboy 05/02/08
      7.   Tzipi Livni Is Stupid 04:42  |  Norman F Birnberg 05/02/08
      8.   Thats the Hamas Master Plan!! 05:00  |  George W. Bush 05/02/08
      9.   Hamas Master Plan Part 2 05:04  |  George W. Bush 05/02/08
      10.   INSANITY 05:06  |  Aharon ben Yitzhak 05/02/08
      11.   More Egypt armed force 05:06  |  Pat 05/02/08
      12.   IDF and Defense Ministry Must Have no Confidence in IDF forces 05:07  |  Lev Bronstein 05/02/08
      13.   Of course Egypt Should be Allowed to increase its foces 05:36  |  US CITIZEN 05/02/08
      14.   I recommend... 05:40  |  Colin Wright 05/02/08
      15.   more israeli troops needed, not egyptians! 05:42  |  a 05/02/08
      16.   More Livnidiocies 06:08  |  Frank 05/02/08
      17.   Egypt doesn`t need more forces for a very simple reason 06:22  |  Gili 05/02/08
      18.   1500 egyptians forces represents a threat to Israel. Foolish... 06:24  |  rasta 05/02/08
      19.   Tsipi Livni 06:29  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 05/02/08
      20.   #17, Gili 07:01  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 05/02/08
      21.   Egypt and the Arab refugees problem. 07:33  |  Harold Lane 05/02/08
      22.   2 x 0 = Zero 07:39  |  B (The other one) 05/02/08
      23.   "BRONSTEIN" Johnboy yes you do both have cognitive dissonance. 07:47  |  PETER SM 05/02/08
      24.   RASTA Islamic terrorists threaten or have terrorised most of E.U. 07:59  |  PETER SM 05/02/08
      25.   Livni: Gives Hand To Egypt To Quadruple Gaza Weapons Smuggling 08:00  |  Joseph . E 05/02/08
      26.   Livni as Prime Minister? Gevalt! 08:11  |  Stephen in New York 05/02/08
      27.   It has no heart. It has no spine. 08:16  |  Joseph . E 05/02/08
      28.   Durson on genocide 08:20  |  Stephen in New York 05/02/08
      29.   LIVNI HAS LOST HER MIND!!!!! MORE FAITH TO DICTATORS!!!!! 08:33  |  Jen 05/02/08
      30.   The POLITICS OF UTTER STUPIDITY!!!! 08:40  |  Jason 05/02/08
      31.   More egyptians to aid arab terrorists. 08:57  |  Dudka 05/02/08
      32.   Tipsy Livni 09:01  |  David 05/02/08
      33.   The Video Tape 09:02  |  Josef 05/02/08
      34.   #18 - Anti-Semitism at it`s best 09:09  |  Gilad 05/02/08
      35.   tzipi...if you don`t mind; may i have this dance? 09:33  |  eric 05/02/08
      36.   Bottomless stupidity of the left 09:45  |  Moshe 05/02/08
      37.   Livni must think ahead of Times! 09:58  |  The Archives 05/02/08
      38.   Livni is shortsighted and unfit to be PM 10:22  |  David 05/02/08
      39.   #26, Stephen in NY 11:03  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 05/02/08
      40.   Gazans aren`t martyrs they`re perpetrators 11:16  |  Iz Ray Leigh 05/02/08
      41.   Zionist Challenge 11:22  |  Joseph . E 05/02/08
      42.   the fdull impact of the utter stupidity of disengagement is comin 11:27  |  v hardman 05/02/08
      43.   Petern SM... If there is no fear, then what is the problem??? 11:37  |  Lev Bronstein 05/02/08
      44.   THIRTY YEARS IN THIRTY MINUTES 11:39  |  Joseph E . post 1 05/02/08
      45.   THIRTY YEARS IN THIRTY MINUTES 11:40  |  Joseph E . post 2 05/02/08
      46.   "BRONSTEIN"there was a whole series of arguments pro &con 12:10  |  PETER SM 05/02/08
      47.   guard of honor 12:25  |  ron 05/02/08
      48.   The Egyptians want Israel wiped out 12:49  |  Jerusalem Jew 05/02/08
      49.   #3 Natalie Durson 12:52  |  H 05/02/08
      50.   H a n d s o f f fragile Egpytian - Israel Peace Treaty 14:00  |  H.H.M 05/02/08
      51.   Joseph E 14:01  |  Stranger 05/02/08
      52.   Think of Egypt as of Iran`s mistress 15:13  |  Fortuna Benmayor 05/02/08
      53.   Egypt`s Request Sounds Reasonable (part 1) 16:36  |  Jeff Northridge 05/02/08
      54.   Egypt`s Request Sounds Reasonable (part 2) 16:55  |  Jeff Northridge 05/02/08
      55.   The Israeli diplomats who think in terms of force 17:04  |  Tosefta 05/02/08
      56.   Israel must come up with a new policy regarding Gaza 17:05  |  Tosefta 05/02/08
      57.   Tosefta # 55 Pauperized? 18:25  |  Jeff Northridge 05/02/08
      58.   #53,54, Jeff Northridge 19:03  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 05/02/08
      59.   Egyptian State-Controlled paper PRAISED TEL AVIV BOMBING 19:37  |  Linda Rivera 05/02/08
      60.   Egypt Preparing for WAR Against ISRAEL 19:39  |  Linda Rivera 05/02/08
      61.   eliminate the source of the request. eliminate hamas. 21:07  |  frenz 05/02/08
      62.   Oh I`m soooooooo scared! 21:12  |  tadchase 05/02/08
      63.   Egypt is not interested in open war....OK!! 21:59  |  Stephen. 05/02/08
      64.   Egypt is on the margine. Hamas & Abbas in the heart of it. 22:50  |  Akram Zekaria 05/02/08
      65.   Good Idea - and one that was suggested weeks ago 22:57  |  Mark Lincoln 05/02/08
      66.   QUO VADIS ANNAPOLIS?! 23:53  |  Joseph E . post 1 05/02/08
      67.   QUO VADIS ANNAPOLIS?! 23:56  |  Joseph E . post 2 05/02/08
      68.   II. His Honor, the Legal Eagle: Reading comprehension (Jeff N#57) 00:32  |  Tosefta 06/02/08
      69.   Israel: you make are complicating everything 01:04  |  Pharaoh 06/02/08
      70.   DONT DO IT 01:51  |  TOBIA