News
Israel seeking strategic dialogue with Egypt
According to a report today in the Jerusalem Post quoting senior government officials, Israel is looking into establishing a strategic dialogue with Egypt in which it would conduct a comprehensive review of the ties between the countries and consider changes to the military appendix of the peace treaty. Israel wants to hold these dialogues with Egypt in order to find a way not to make the peace treaty a central focus in the upcoming Egyptian elections. According to the report, the idea to establish a strategic dialogue is supported by a number of officials in the Ministry of Defence and is under review by Defence Minister Ehud Barak. Israel already holds official strategic dialogues with countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom, which are held annually to discuss issues of mutual interest.
Mutual strategic interests between Israel and Egypt are presently dealt with on an ad hoc basis. Currently if Egypt wants to increase its deployment of troops in the Sinai, it has to seek Israel’s permission first, as part of the 1979 peace treaty. This was recently the case when Egypt launched operation Eagle, a military operation against extremist groups operating in the Sinai, including those responsible for attack on pipelines supplying gas to Israel and Jordan. “Until now, every issue that comes up is dealt with on a tactical level,” the official explained. “They ask for troops and we approve or don’t. The idea would be to conduct a comprehensive review and ensure that it is no longer an issue.”
Meanwhile, the situation on the Israel-Egypt border remains tense amid fears that an Islamic Jihad cell will try to carry out an attack in the coming days. There is concern that terrorists will try and infiltrate a borderline community to kidnap an Israeli soldier or civilian. Israel has been working closely with Egypt in an effort to prevent the attack, which officials said was slated to be carried out by a cell consisting of just over 10 terrorists. The IDF has also deployed more troops along the border and raised the level of alert.