CAIRO: Israel will look into making the necessary changes to the military appendix of the 1979 Peace Treaty with Egypt, Jerusalem Post reported Thursday, citing senior Israeli government officials. Israel will also seek to hold strategic dialogue with Egypt as well as conduct a comprehensive review of bilateral ties, the paper said, adding that the idea raised by a number of officials within the defense establishment is now under review by Defense Minister Ehud Barak. “We would like to find a way to remove the peace treaty with Israel as an issue in the upcoming elections [in Egypt], during which each candidate will try to pull in a more extreme direction,” one defense official was quoted by Jerusalem Post as saying on Wednesday. The Israeli initiative, the paper said, stems from the desire to establish warmer relations with Egypt's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), and out of concern that the issue of peace between the two countries will be raised in the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections in Egypt. One solution is the initiation of a comprehensive review of the treaty's military appendix, which regulates the presence of Egyptian troops in the Sinai Peninsula, the paper said. Egypt can only deploy 750 forces in Zone C covering 220 kilometers along the Egyptian border with Israel and the blockaded Gaza Strip as per the restrictions of the 1979 Peace Treaty. Based on the treaty's military appendix, only United Nations forces and Egyptian civil police armed with light weapons are allowed to be stationed in Zone C. No helicopters, heavy artillery or boats are allowed to be used inside this zone to protect the border. Restrictions on security presence are believed to have led to the infiltration of militant groups from Gaza as well as arms trafficking. Israel recently approved the deployment of over 1,000 Egyptian soldiers — backed by tanks and armored personnel carriers — into North Sinai as part of an effort to hunt down gunmen in the Sinai Peninsula following recent attacks in the area. “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.” The Israeli community, according to Jerusalem Post, is skeptical about the success of such a strategic dialogue, particularly due to strained relations between Israel on the one hand and the transitional leadership and the Egyptian public on the other. “If ties are strong with [head of SCAF Field Marshall Mohammed Hussein] Tantawy, that doesn't mean that the [Egyptian] public feels the same way,” a government official said. Bilateral relations have tensed following the killing of five Egyptian policemen, including one officer, by Israeli forces in crossfire with militants on the border on Aug. 18. The incident was preceded by three attacks that killed eight a few hours earlier in Israel. Israeli officials were quick to blame the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip for the triple assault, criticizing Egypt for losing control over security in North and South Sinai. The recent border incident resulting in killing Egyptian security personnel stirred the outrage of activists and political forces in Egypt leading many to demand amending the peace treaty while others called for canceling it altogether. Israeli Defense Forces (IFD) intensified security measures along the southern border with the Sinai Peninsula and the blockaded Gaza Strip in a bid to prevent similar attacks.
