Egyptian Expert Calls to Change Peace Agreement with Israel

An Egyptian expert on strategic matters and security said on Tuesday that he supports the idea of changing some parts of the Camp David Accords signed between Israel and Egypt in 1979, Arab affairs expert Dalit Halevi reported Tuesday. The expert, Gen. Talat Muslim, made the comments in an exclusive interview to the official website of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party. Muslim said that the agreement should have been changed immediately after it was signed, adding that the only solution to the current situation would be placing security forces along the border with the “Israeli enemy”, as he put it, and employing a policy of establishing facts on the ground until Israel agrees to change the agreement. He also expressed support for placing fighter jets, tanks and heavy weapons in the Sinai Peninsula area as well as placing additional forces to deal with “criminal enclaves” in northern Sinai. Halevi noted that Muslim’s remarks are significant because they were featured in a prominent place on the official website of the Freedom and Justice Party. Egypt has launched a crackdown on Sinai terrorism in recent days, in response to the terror attack near the border with Israel last week, in which 16 Egyptian officers were killed. Earlier this week it was reported that Egypt has moved anti-aircraft missiles and anti-tank missiles into the Sinai Peninsula, without Israel’s permission. Such equipment is prohibited in Sinai by the Egypt-Israel peace treaty. The Maariv Hebrew-language website reported on Tuesday that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has demanded that Egypt cease sending tanks into the Sinai without Israel’s approval. Muslim Brotherhood leaders have rejected Israeli claims of a breach of the peace agreement by leaving the armored forces in Sinai and noted on Tuesday that Israel violated the treaty with Egypt during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza in early 2009.