BICOM

Both Israel and Egypt have apparently rejected a plan to reduce the number of international peacekeepers in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, which borders Israel.

The US-led Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) has helped monitor the border region since Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty in 1979. 12 countries contribute peacekeeping troops in the area, but the 700-strong American contingent is by far the largest. The peacekeepers are in place to ensure compliance with the 36-year-old peace treaty. However, their role has become somewhat less taxing with Israel and Egypt closely cooperating on security issues. Israel routinely permits Egypt to increase its military presence in Sinai beyond the terms of the treaty, as Cairo looks to tackle Islamist terrorists in the region.

Since the ousting of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in 2013, the Sinai Province group, which is affiliated to ISIS has targeted the regime of President al-Sisi, persistently attacking Egyptian military forces in Sinai. Two blasts yesterday at a hotel in the northern Sinai town of el-Arish, where election judges had been staying, killed at least five people. Although the regime in Cairo is the primary target for Ansar, the group has also made clear that it is committed to attacking Israel and has fired rockets across the border.

Reuters says that the peacekeepers are nervous for their safety after six were injured in a roadside bomb in September. At a review meeting in Rome, it was suggested that isolated posts would be removed and replaced with remote surveillance. However, according to the report Israel and Egypt displayed a unified front against such a move.

An anonymous Egyptian official is quoted saying, “The MFO said they want to reduce the force now, but we and Israel refused … We said this is not the proper time, during a war on terrorism. It would give jihadists the wrong message.” An unnamed Israeli official appeared to concur, telling Reuters “Israel and Egypt are interested in the force remaining with its current disposition.”