Throughout Sunday and Monday, an Israeli delegation that included Mossad officials failed to convince officials in Cairo of the idea that Israel would control the Philadelphia axis, the border strip separating the Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
According to Ashraf Al-Ashry, editor-in-chief of the Egyptian government newspaper Al-Ahram, Egyptian officials rejected a map submitted by their Israeli counterparts that includes their control over the This axis, also known as “Salah al-Din Axis. ,” on the border between Gaza and Egypt, which is within the buffer zone under the Camp David peace agreement, between Egypt and Israel, signed in in 1978, and its length 14 km.
“Proposals rejected by Egypt”
Al-Ashri told the Al-Hurra website, “Israel also offered to have a symbolic military presence in the Philadelphia axis, and also proposed to reduce the number of current military divisions there from seven to only two armies, but he refused Egypt this proposal too. ”
He said, “Egypt told the Israelis that they are wasting time on an issue that has been resolved on its part, that there is no Israeli presence either at the Rafah crossing or in the Philadelphia corridor, and to Cairo is determined to do so and that they are a ‘red line’ even if the issue leads to an extension of the negotiations, because… These two files affect the national security of the Egypt.”
On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that his country’s forces “will not withdraw under any circumstances from the axis of Philadelphia or the axis of Netzarim.” “
With Netanyahu’s confirmation, questions are being raised about the fate of the negotiations due to Cairo’s position rejecting the Israeli military presence in this buffer zone specified in the Camp David peace agreement, and whether solutions are proposed to find a solution.
Egyptian military expert Major General Mohamed Abdel Wahed says the agreement organized operations in the border areas and divided Sinai into four areas: “A,” “B,” “C,” and “D,” says that the Philadelphia axis is located in District “D.”
He said in statements to the Al-Hurra website that “the agreement set rules and restrictions for the forces, so that the existing military forces would be symbolic, with their numbers not to exceed four battalions, meaning up to four thousand Israeli soldiers, in addition to the lack of tanks, armored vehicles, missiles, or weapons.”
Israeli forces controlled Area D, which includes the Philadelphia axis, until they withdrew from it and handed it over to the Palestinian Authority in 2005. To impose an Egyptian presence on way for border guard forces, a new agreement was signed called the “Philadelphia Agreement. “
Israel signed the Philadelphia Agreement with Egypt as part of the Camp David Agreement, which specified a distance of 14 kilometers as a buffer strip along the border between Egypt and Gaza.
The Philadelphia axis, or “Salah al-Din”, is located between Egypt and the Gaza Strip
The agreement came after the Israeli Knesset approved, in 2004, a decision to withdraw all Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, which took effect in August 2005.
But Abdel Wahed points out that “something called the ‘active mechanism’ in the agreement indicates that if one party wants forces to be present for something that opens the security of its country to risks, it can e, with the permission of the group. another party, seeking support from additional forces, and this happened during the fight against Egypt.
The ground offensive into Rafah from last May allowed Israel to control the “Philadelphia axis” and the Rafah crossing, which connects the Gaza Strip with Egypt and was a point of aid to deliver humanity, “something Egypt refuses. “
However, an Israeli researcher in Middle East affairs, Roni Shalom, said in his interview with the Al-Hurra website that the reason for the problems in the Philadelphia axis was “the cooperation of Egyptian officials and the authorities highest in the Egyptian regime in the smuggling of arms and products through Sinai to the Gaza Strip” when it was under the control of the Hamas group.
Israel says Hamas used an extensive network of tunnels to smuggle weapons, allowing it to build the weapon it used in the October 7 attack that sparked the war.
The Israeli army says it has discovered and destroyed dozens of tunnels since capturing the Philadelphia Pass in May.
Egypt denies the reports, saying it destroyed hundreds of tunnels on its side of the border years ago, and established its own military buffer zone to prevent smuggling. .
concerns of Egypt
Abdel Wahed points out that Israel’s occupation of the borders of the Gaza Strip “embarrasses the Egyptian leadership in front of the Egyptian people, the Palestinians, and the Arab region.” “
It confirms that Netanyahu’s insistence that Israel continues to control the Philadelphia axis raises Egypt’s fear that the Jewish state will carry out its threat to expel the Palestinians.
From the first days of the war, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned against Israel starting a process of “forced displacement” of the besieged residents, as suggested by some Israeli officials implemented this idea.
Abdel Wahed said, “With the Israeli siege of the Gaza Strip in this military way would be total Israeli control over the entire Strip. This is one of the crimes of apartheid, and Egypt does not and will not participate in Israeli crimes so.”
He said, “Israel wants to maintain complete control of the crossings. There are six other crossings, and we saw in the pictures how it demolished the Rafah crossing completely. It is a humanitarian issue and it will turn into a political issue, something which Egypt also rejects.”
“American Proposal for Philadelphia Axis and Rafah Crossroads”
Al-Ashri says that another American proposal presented by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken during his visit to Cairo on Tuesday, is that only international forces will be there for six months on the axis of Philadelphia and that his be the American and Palestinian forces at the Rafah crossing, and on the other hand the Egyptian forces will be on the Egyptian side As a solution to the problem, Israel must withdraw completely from the Gaza Strip at that time. “
Al-Ashry said that Egypt agreed to this proposal for a while and did not accept any other solutions yet.
Abdel Wahed believes that “Egypt’s role is very sensitive because it plays the role of a mediator so it must be neutral. “
He confirms that “Egypt has main goals, which are a ceasefire, the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, and access to humanitarian aid, and this is what Egypt is working on as that, she does not completely agree with the presence of the Israeli army in the axis of Philadelphia, and they can turn a blind eye now until the two parties reach an agreement that leads to a ceasefire.”
What happens to the Camp David break?
Regarding what happened to the Camp David Agreement, Al-Ashry said that Israel has ended many of the terms of the agreement since the seventh of October last year, and that the Egyptian-Israeli relationship is at its lowest levels. since 1979, and this is a dangerous threat. stage in the history of relationships.
For his part, Shalom said, “What happened is, of course, a widespread violation of the agreements with Israel, but before that Egypt was violated by the presence of tunnels under the Rafah crossing, which led to the operation terrorism against Israel. citizens.”
Shalom said that the Philadelphia axis “has become Israel’s security zone,” and that Egypt has lost its borders with Gaza, “and today it has longer borders with the State of Israel.”
Al-Ashry confirms that “Egypt believes that all options are on the table if its national security is threatened, starting from removing the ambassador to stop the trend towards freezing economic and defense relations. ”
On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden urged Netanyahu in a phone call to reach a ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza, according to what the White House said, as peace talks stalled. go down
The US president’s statement said, “The President emphasized the urgent need to end the cease-fire agreement and release the hostages, and discussed the negotiations to arrive in Cairo to remove any remaining obstacles.”
2024-08-22 02:33:21
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