Posted on 02/12/2011 5:53:25 PM PST by Tigen
Israelis urged to return home for fear that peninsula will become launching pad for terror attacks as police abandon posts, facing increasing violence.
Concern is mounting in Israel over reports that the Egyptian police force has abandoned the Sinai Peninsula in face of growing Beduin violence, and that the territory will turn into a breeding ground for global jihad.
According to information that has arrived in Israel, Egyptian police authorities have abandoned dozens of police stations throughout the peninsula after they were attacked by Beduin armed with missiles and assault rifles.
This concern was behind Israel’s decision two weeks ago to allow the deployment of 800 Egyptian soldiers in Sharm e-Sheikh and Rafah.
Additional requests since then have been rejected.
In recent years, the Sinai hasturned into a launching pad for attacks against Israel, including by Hamas, which several months ago launched Katyusha rockets into Eilat from the Egyptian territory.
The Egyptian military has for years encountered difficulty in controlling the Beduin population, which does not hold allegiance to the Egyptian government in Cairo.
“The Sinai is already known as a lawless land,” a senior defense official said over the weekend. “There is real concern that if the Egyptians don’t get the Sinai back under their control, it could develop into a major threat to Israel.”
Israel, which has urged all its citizens to leave the Sinai immediately, is particularly concerned about the possibility that Hamas will take hold of parts of the peninsula and use it to launch attacks into Israel via the 240-kilometer long Israeli- Egyptian border, with an emphasis on Eilat.
There is also concern that without a real Egyptian security presence in the Sinai, Hamas will be able to increase the amount and quality of weaponry and explosives it smuggles into the Gaza Strip via Egypt.
Israel has shared these concerns with its allies, as well as on a personal level between Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen.
Gabi Ashkenazi and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen.
Nice work Egypt
At least Obama feels inspired.
I’m just not convinced this is going to end up as nicely as many seem to think.
The Egyptian Army is constrained from entering the Sinai by the Camp David Treaty.
“Israel has shared these concerns with its allies, as well as on a personal level between Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen.”
Wondering if the lip service was at least pleasant.
Maybe he was talking about modeling Egypt after Indonesia as he has been reading up on. First it’s not his business. and Second....
Hmmmm the President of the US of America wants to model another country after (not the US, but..) Indonesia. Wow, something is seriously wrong with this picture.
IMO, gathering intel for the MBH.
Not good.
The sentence "additional requests since then have been rejected" is unclear--was Israel requesting that the troops be deployed and Egypt was saying no, or did Egypt want to send in more troops and Israel said no?
It's always been a lawless area--even Moses broke all the ten commandments when he was there.
Yikes ping.
“The implication is that Egypt cannot deploy troops in the Sinai without Israel’s permission.”
According to the treaty, Egypt will not deploy large forces
in Sinai without Israel’s consent.
Israel should never have given up the Sinai after the Yom Kippur War in ‘73.
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