Cairo aims to contain a potentially combustible situation on its border. Rasha Saad reports President Hosni Mubarak met with Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom on Monday, one day after the Israeli Knesset approved Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to leave the Gaza Strip. Shalom also met with Osama El-Baz, Mubarak's political adviser, to discuss an Egyptian initiative on security arrangements after the Israeli withdrawal. Egypt has expressed its concerns about Gaza descending into chaos after a sudden, unilateral Israeli withdrawal, offering its help to ensure that does not occur. Although Egypt has offered to help train Palestinian security forces, Cairo has simultaneously demanded that Arafat root out corruption in the security apparatus, consolidate more than a dozen agencies into three under the command of an empowered interior minister, and cede more security control to Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei. At a press conference following the El-Baz- Shalom meeting, the Israeli foreign minister said both countries were "very close" to an agreement allowing Egypt to deploy some 100 extra police forces along the Egyptian border with Gaza. El-Baz emphasised that deploying the extra Egyptian forces would not require amending the 1979 Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, which limits the types of forces Egypt can maintain in the border area. Mubarak's adviser also said that Egypt's initiative was not being pursued as a means to appease the Israelis, but rather to make the Gaza Strip more secure. "It's not a matter of us doing anything particular for the sake of Israel," he said. Shalom had said the extra police in Rafah was being deployed mainly "to stop those smugglers from smuggling weapons through the tunnels". El-Baz was making clear that the emphasis was on helping the Palestinians maintain the security situation inside the Gaza Strip, rather than on Egypt policing the border. An announcement was also made regarding the establishment of a bilateral Egyptian and Israeli committee that aimed to enhance cooperation in a variety of spheres, and particularly security. Committees to handle a variety of issues, El-Baz said "would result in better understanding, for the purpose of saving the peace process". Cairo hopes the progress currently being made will lead to a cease-fire between the Israelis and Palestinians, a resumption of peace talks, and a meeting between Sharon and his counterpart Qurei to shore up the planned Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Helping Israel disarm the Palestinians in Gaza, however, is a highly sensitive issue that could potentially catalyse conflicts with Palestinian resistance groups there. A Palestinian official, who asked to remain anonymous, interpreted Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's agreeing to the Egyptian proposal as a way of "avoiding a confrontation with Egypt". The official said Arafat was convinced that "Israel will not accept Egypt's ideas for a truce and a safe corridor between the West Bank and Gaza. So why have a showdown with Egypt now?" According to former Egyptian Ambassador to Israel Mohamed Bassiouni, the role Egypt is playing at present was based on the request and consent of Arafat himself. Bassiouni also refuted the possibility of any conflict with Palestinian factions, since Egypt's role in Gaza will be limited to training Palestinian security bodies. "Egyptian soldiers will have no role to play other than the training of Palestinian security forces," Bassiouni told Al-Ahram Weekly. Bassiouni predicted that "the type of force" on the Egyptian border with Gaza -- currently police carrying light weapons -- "will not be enough to guarantee security, and would [probably] shift from police to military," including border security or special forces. Even so, Bassiouni agreed that there was no need to amend the 1979 treaty; the changes could be added in a memorandum, or an additional protocol. Bassiouni said the 19,000 soldiers, 3,000 policemen, and 420 armoured vehicles Egypt has in Sinai "are enough to secure the area." In Cairo on Tuesday, UN Middle East coordinator Terje Roed-Larsen said the Egyptian initiative has international support. "Egypt has the full support of the key players on the international scene for its initiative, and is playing a central role." Roed-Larsen met Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa to discuss Israel's plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip. The UN, he said, "favourably welcomed" the pullout. A potential deal-breaker, however, in the latest version of Israel's Gaza pullout plan is the suggestion that any decision on dismantling Jewish settlements be delayed for at least nine months. "We hope that Israel will stick to its original plan," El-Baz said, "because it is on that basis that we based our hopes, and the Palestinian's hopes, for progress. We can't introduce new changes at every step." El-Baz said that Egypt also wants the Israeli government to stick to the timetable set out by the roadmap plan, which is already many months behind schedule.
