As is well-known, when the ceasefire between Egypt and Israel went into effect in June 1967, Israel was occupying the EgyptianSinai Peninsula and continued its occupation until the second disengagement agreement that followed the 1973 war, cemented in the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel signed in 1979. There were indications that an Israeli company started pumping oil from Egyptian oil fields in the Gulf of Suez and selling part of it in international markets, satisfying 55 per cent of its energy needs with the rest. It was reported that Israel siphoned $20 billion worth of oil from Sinai, according to market prices at the time. Israel also started pillaging minerals from Sinai mines and built Israeli settlements for its citizens, implying that Israel would annex Sinai to its territories. When the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel was concluded, Israel agreed to remove the settlements and returned Sinai to Egypt. The two parties agreed to form a committee to look into financial claims, but no reports indicated that the committee was ever established. In order to secure Sinai and Israel's borders in the Naqab Desert close to Sinai, the treaty's annex stipulated that Egypt keep a small military force in the area but not enough to be able to attack Israeli checkpoints in the Naqab. Subsequent events have proven that these limited troops were not sufficient to secure Sinai from attacks by militants, especially by the Islamic State group that has infiltrated Sinai and other places in Egypt. The matter requires an amendment of the peace treaty. As reported by local and international media, some years ago 35 masked gunmen attacked an Egyptian military checkpoint in Sinai not very far from Israel's border, killing 16 Egyptian soldiers while they were breaking their Ramadan fast. One of the gunmen stole a truck from the checkpoint, packed it with explosives and then drove it to Israel's border, where he blew up the truck and himself. The other gunmen stole two Egyptian armed vehicles, drove them towards Israel and crossed its border. They were stopped by three Israeli air strikes that left six or seven of them dead, most of them carrying explosives on their bodies, as they were trying to flee. The gunmen were not clearly identified. According to Egyptian and international media, officials in Egypt put the blame on Egyptian Bedouin militants in Sinai. Israeli officials suspected the involvement of Al-Qaeda-inspired militants with ties to some Palestinians in Sinai and aided by Palestinians in Gaza. Actually, Bedouin militants operated in the lawless Sinai for years without help from Gazan Palestinians. Years of neglect by Egyptian governments, even before the Israeli occupation of Sinai, and acute joblessness among Bedouins sowed the seeds for crime. Egypt has coveted Sinai, which is a vital strategic spot, but continued to neglect it and treated its Bedouins and Palestinian refugees there with contempt. During the rule of former President Mohamed Morsi, The New York Times reported that the Muslim Brotherhood stated on its website (the Brotherhood said it was not speaking for president Morsi) that Israeli intelligence agencies could be responsible for the attack as Israel had been trying to thwart the 25 January Revolution. On several occasions militants from Hamas, which have been governing Gaza after Israel's withdrawal, used to sneak to the Egyptian town of Al-Arish through illegal tunnels it built, bringing back supplies and even cars stolen from Cairo by thugs. Many Egyptian soldiers and police officers died confronting smugglers. The Brotherhood demanded that the treaty with Israel be amended to allow Egypt a larger number of troops stationed in Sinai. In rebutting that statement by the Muslim Brotherhood, it was reported that several Israeli officials and analysts noted that the treaty was modified two years prior to allow Egypt to station seven additional battalions in Sinai and that Egypt had not yet filled that quota. If true, responsibility for not securing Sinai would fall on former President Mubarak. It was ridiculous for the Israelis to claim that the treaty was amended. There was no announcement regarding that from Egypt, Israel or the United Nations. The matter needs action from the Egyptian government, to find out whether the treaty was amended or not. The silence of President Barack Obama's administration on the attack on the Egyptian checkpoint in Sinai was puzzling. There were no reported comments from Obama or from his secretaries of state and defence until days after the attack when Hillary Clinton, then secretary of state, called former president Morsi to offer her condolences! Certainly, the crisis needed action by the Obama administration. The statements from Israeli officials could be interpreted as meaning that Israel was not ready to negotiate a new amendment of the treaty annex to allow Egypt larger military troops in Sinai. If President Obama wanted to be an honest broker between Egypt and Israel, he should have shown as much concern about Egypt's security as he did for Israel's. He still should press the latter to agree to amend the treaty annex to end the demilitarisation of Sinai that has been infringing on Egypt's sovereignty over its territories. especially in Al-Arish, Rafah and from Taba to Sharm El-Sheikh. This is crucial for the stability of Egypt and also for the safety of thousands of foreign tourists vacationing in Sinai resorts. It is a chance for the Egyptian government to check the sincerity of the US government in its relations with Egypt. But in light of deteriorating relations between the US and Israel after the former's Republican-dominated Congress invited Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu — without consulting with President Obama — to speak about Obama's negotiations with Iran on its nuclear programme, and his criticism of the nuclear deal Iran concluded with the United States, the UK, France, Russia and China, it is unlikely that Obama can persuade Netanyahu to agree to amend the peace treaty with Egypt. The alternative would be that the Egyptian government asks the United Nations to intervene as it did in previous conflicts between the two countries, especially that combating terrorism is a significant mission of this organisation. The matter is very serious. Without security in Sinai, instability and the terrorist peril will continue affecting the flow of tourists to Sinai and Egypt in general, and causing great losses of life.
