Who patrols?

It is an enhanced Egyptian security presence, rather than NATO troops, that Egypt wants on its border with Gaza, Dina Ezzat reports

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Visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was cautiously sensitive but firmly uncompromising in expressing concern -- that could have amounted to criticism -- over Egypt's handling of its border with Gaza. Egypt, according to statements made by Rice in a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit, needs to spare no effort to secure that no tunnels are dug to allow for the smuggling of arms, funds or other materials from Egypt to Gaza, or the other way round. The success of Egypt in carefully managing its border with Gaza, Rice said, is in the interest of Egypt as much as it is in the interest of both Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA).

According to the US secretary of state, firm security surveillance of the border between Egypt and Hamas-controlled Gaza would spare Israel and the PA from worrying about the penetration of resources and funds to their joint political foe, Hamas, through Egypt. Rice added that in view of its own security concerns and war on terror, Egypt would also want to worry about the use of such tunnels to allow for the smuggling of arms and militants from Gaza to Egypt.

Abul-Gheit argued that Egypt is trying its utmost to secure the border with Gaza. He added, however, that the security forces currently permitted to be stationed at the border, in accordance with the limitations imposed by the Egyptian-Israeli peace agreement, makes it difficult for Egypt to undertake the tasks Rice is worried about.

"We are trying to reach an understanding with Israel, a new agreement, to upgrade the numbers of these forces beyond [those stipulated] in the peace agreement," Abul-Gheit said Tuesday. The top Egyptian diplomat was elusive, however, about the prospects of such an understanding being achieved in the near future.

Informed Egyptian sources told Al-Ahram Weekly that talks between Egypt and Israel on this matter started over a year ago and do not seem easy to conclude. In return for granting Egypt its wish to near double the number of its present few hundred troops allowed on the border with Gaza, Israel is making demands in relation to its right to sudden heavy deployment of military units on Egypt's borders with Gaza as well as with Israel proper, ostensibly in the name of arresting wanted Palestinians or other militants.

The legal, military and political details, as well as the possible repercussions involved, according to the same official Egyptian sources, are complicated. One issue is whether or not any amendment to present practices would be a precedent that would allow for further changes to be introduced to the text of the Israel-Egypt peace agreement that has remained untouched since 1979. Sources add that there is also the concern over the need to go back to the respective parliaments of Egypt and Israel to seek ratification for any amendment.

The issue, official sources say, is not one that will be resolved in a matter of days or weeks, but it is an issue that Egypt is convinced it has to pursue. The same sources add that upgraded Egyptian security is far preferable to the presence of international troops, as suggested last week by some Israeli quarters. Israeli newspapers reported that Egypt and NATO might soon be discussing the deployment of NATO troops on the border with Gaza. The news, promptly and firmly denied by Cairo, was associated with the signing of an Individual Cooperation Programme (ICP) between Egypt and NATO on 9 October.

The ICP was signed under the enlarged Mediterranean dialogue that brings together NATO with several Mediterranean states: Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Morocco, Mauritania and Tunis. According to NATO and Egyptian officials, the ICP aims at promoting political and military ties in order to enhance regional security and stability.

So far, the text of the agreement has not been made available for public scrutiny. Sources with access to the text say that it includes references to cooperation on a wide range of political and military matters -- not excluding border control and the containment of regional conflicts.

"There is nothing at all mentioned directly or indirectly in relation to stationing any NATO troops on the Egyptian side of the border with Gaza. For us, this is a non-starter," commented a senior Egyptian official. He added that the stationing of foreign troops would not either be welcomed by the PA.

The same source excluded the option even in view of tense relations between Egypt and Hamas in the wake of the takeover of Gaza by Hamas in June. "We are not having NATO troops between us and Hamas. This is an Israeli story with no foundation," he asserted.

According to a press statement issued by the office of the foreign minister during the weekend, the ICP between Egypt and NATO is only part of the enlarged relationship that Cairo is pursuing with the security organisation in relation to matters of wide regional dimension -- all under the enlarged Mediterranean dialogue which NATO launched in 1994. Egypt is the second country after Israel to have signed such an agreement.

The ICP was concluded after intense consultations that included the first ever visit by an Egyptian foreign minister to NATO headquarters in March and high-level military consultations in Cairo and other Mediterranean cities where NATO defence officials met with Mediterranean counterparts.