Egypt continued its efforts to reach a comprehensive ceasefire agreement between the Palestinians and Israel The official spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Egypt had invited both Israel and the Palestinian organizations to Cairo next Thursday to hold separate meetings with Egypt. According to the spokesman, the meetings aim to discuss the steps to be taken to consolidate the ceasefire in Gaza and agree on a bunch of measures to apply the Egyptian Initiative, including lifting the blockade and opening border crossings. An informed Egyptian source said Cairo got in contact yesterday with the Palestinian factions to know whether they would accept the invitation or not, pointing out that in light of their response, Egypt would decide how to host them and whether to hold bilateral meetings or a common one. In both cases, these meetings will not last very long as was the case in the previous meetings held by Cairo to try and reach the former ceasefire agreement, the source affirmed. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on the Palestinian factions to meet immediately in Cairo. Meanwhile, according to an informed Egyptian source, Egypt has proposed to deploy between 1,000 and 2,000 additional armed border guards backed by planes and big security facilities close to the borders. Cairo has also asked that Egyptian military aircrafts are allowed to fly close to the border and, if necessary, to enter the Israeli air space along with land members. According to the source, the international forces would be re-deployed in the border area between Egypt and Israel in the framework of the new soon-to-be-declared agreement. According to a European source related to the international forces, Israel has informed them that it has been studying the possibility of adding a new clause to the peace treaty in order to deploy more border guards, provided that they are equipped with new equipment. The source said this was the optimal solution in light of Egypt's refusal of the deployment of international forces on its territory. The source then went on to say that the international forces would not be opposed to change their positions as happened in 2005, when Egypt deployed 750 soldiers along the border near the Saladin-Philadelphia corridor. According to the sources, one of the options for the international forces would be to increase the number of observation towers. The multinational forces have their headquarters in Rome and run communication offices in Cairo and Tel Aviv as well as a network of 35 observation towers, checkpoints and observation centers along the borders in eastern Sinai. All in all, the international forces are made up of some 1,700 soldiers and a crew of 15 US civilian monitors. Their mission is to make sure that Egypt and Israel conform to the security clauses of the Camp David Accords. Meanwhile, an official source told Al-Masry Al-Youm that heated disputes exist between Egypt and Israel over the opening of the Rafah border crossing and the issue of monitoring the borders to tackle arms smuggling. "Israel accuses Egypt of not doing enough to tackle arms smuggling" the source said, adding that Israel has concluded a security agreement with the US to prevent arms smuggling and put pressure on Israel to tighten its grip on the tunnels. According to the source, Egypt asked Israel and the US to increase its forces along the borders with the Gaza Strip to 2,500 soldiers to control even more the area, but this request has been refused. Dr. Nabil Fouad, professor of strategic sciences, said Egypt had already asked an increase in the size of its forces on the borders with Israel, but Israel had given the thumbs down more than once. "The possibility of adding a new clause to the Peace Treaty is being taken into consideration and Israel might give its go-ahead" he affirmed.
