Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that he will submit the issue of deploying Egyptian troops on the Philadelphi Route, along the Egypt-Gaza border, to the Knesset.
The Israeli government is interested in deploying Egyptian troops on the Philadelphi route as a means of preventing Arabs from smuggling weapons into Gaza after the IDF withdraws from the region and hands the territory over to the Palestinian Authority.
“Deploying small Egyptian forces on the route is an important matter,” said the prime minister, after meeting with President Moshe Katzav. “There’s no problem in having the issue brought before the Knesset.”
Sharon previously maintained that the deployment, which requires changing the Israel-Egypt peace agreement, does not require Knesset approval. Sharon has claimed that the necessary change in the treaty, already agreed to by the Egyptians, was too minor to warrant bringing the issue to the Knesset.
Sharon’s position had been supported by Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, who recently issued a legal opinion stating that Israeli law did not require Knesset approval for the move.
Sharon also said that the plan to forcibly expel Jews from their homes in Gaza and northern Samaria would not be followed by more such actions. He said the next stage was the Road Map, but insisted that implementing it would require “complete quiet, cessation of terror, disarming the terror groups, collecting weapons, and carrying out reforms in the Palestinian Authority.”
“Only after (carrying out) all of that would it be possible to continue with the road map, as was decided,” said Sharon.
The Road Map is a plan sponsored by the Bush administration for resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict. The plan calls for the establishment of a viable, territorially contiguous Palestinian state in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza (Yesha). It also demands that Israel stop all construction in Jewish communities in Yesha in return for the cessation of terrorist activity by the Arabs.
The prime minister announced his decision regarding the Philadelphi Route just as one of the major opponents of the Egyptian deployment, MK Yuval Steinitz (Likud), was on his way to the High Court of Justice to attend a hearing on a petition that would require Sharon to submit the issue to a Knesset vote.
Steinitz welcomed Sharon’s surprise turnabout on submitting the issue for Knesset approval, though he still vehemently opposes the idea of deploying Egyptian troops along Israel’s border, calling it a dangerous precedent.
Steinitz’s concern’s were echoed recently by the Knesset Subcommittee on Intelligence and Secret Services. In an unprecedented move, the committee published an open letter to ministers in the security cabinet:
“Unfortunately, we cannot remove from our considerations that Egypt’s steadfast desire to deploy its 800 troops and armed vehicles in the Philadelphi area was meant, from their perspective, as a means of breaking the principle of demilitarization (of the Sinai peninsula). If that is not the case, then why are the Egyptians insisting on 800 soldiers instead of 800 civilian police whose deployment would not contradict the principle of demilitarization.
“Furthermore, based on the material before us, the Egyptians do see this as an opportunity to restore full Egyptian sovereignty to the eastern Sinai.”
In contrast, IDF Chief-of-Staff, Lt.Gen. Dan Halutz said he has no difficulty with the Egyptian troops patrolling the border instead of IDF forces. “On the military level, bringing Egyptian forces onto the border can be taken into account,” he said.
Legal experts who consider the Gaza district to be occupied territory, have advised the government that the area would still be considered occupied under international law, so long as Israel maintains a military presence on the Philadelphi Route.
The Israeli government is interested in deploying Egyptian troops on the Philadelphi route as a means of preventing Arabs from smuggling weapons into Gaza after the IDF withdraws from the region and hands the territory over to the Palestinian Authority.
“Deploying small Egyptian forces on the route is an important matter,” said the prime minister, after meeting with President Moshe Katzav. “There’s no problem in having the issue brought before the Knesset.”
Sharon previously maintained that the deployment, which requires changing the Israel-Egypt peace agreement, does not require Knesset approval. Sharon has claimed that the necessary change in the treaty, already agreed to by the Egyptians, was too minor to warrant bringing the issue to the Knesset.
Sharon’s position had been supported by Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, who recently issued a legal opinion stating that Israeli law did not require Knesset approval for the move.
Sharon also said that the plan to forcibly expel Jews from their homes in Gaza and northern Samaria would not be followed by more such actions. He said the next stage was the Road Map, but insisted that implementing it would require “complete quiet, cessation of terror, disarming the terror groups, collecting weapons, and carrying out reforms in the Palestinian Authority.”
“Only after (carrying out) all of that would it be possible to continue with the road map, as was decided,” said Sharon.
The Road Map is a plan sponsored by the Bush administration for resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict. The plan calls for the establishment of a viable, territorially contiguous Palestinian state in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza (Yesha). It also demands that Israel stop all construction in Jewish communities in Yesha in return for the cessation of terrorist activity by the Arabs.
The prime minister announced his decision regarding the Philadelphi Route just as one of the major opponents of the Egyptian deployment, MK Yuval Steinitz (Likud), was on his way to the High Court of Justice to attend a hearing on a petition that would require Sharon to submit the issue to a Knesset vote.
Steinitz welcomed Sharon’s surprise turnabout on submitting the issue for Knesset approval, though he still vehemently opposes the idea of deploying Egyptian troops along Israel’s border, calling it a dangerous precedent.
Steinitz’s concern’s were echoed recently by the Knesset Subcommittee on Intelligence and Secret Services. In an unprecedented move, the committee published an open letter to ministers in the security cabinet:
“Unfortunately, we cannot remove from our considerations that Egypt’s steadfast desire to deploy its 800 troops and armed vehicles in the Philadelphi area was meant, from their perspective, as a means of breaking the principle of demilitarization (of the Sinai peninsula). If that is not the case, then why are the Egyptians insisting on 800 soldiers instead of 800 civilian police whose deployment would not contradict the principle of demilitarization.
“Furthermore, based on the material before us, the Egyptians do see this as an opportunity to restore full Egyptian sovereignty to the eastern Sinai.”
In contrast, IDF Chief-of-Staff, Lt.Gen. Dan Halutz said he has no difficulty with the Egyptian troops patrolling the border instead of IDF forces. “On the military level, bringing Egyptian forces onto the border can be taken into account,” he said.
Legal experts who consider the Gaza district to be occupied territory, have advised the government that the area would still be considered occupied under international law, so long as Israel maintains a military presence on the Philadelphi Route.