The Israeli government recently demanded Egypt, through the U.S. Administration, to deploy large groups of Egyptian Commandos in the Sinai Peninsula area, in order to control the security situation there, and said that it would allow the deployment of seven Egyptian brigades.Israeli paper, Maariv, reported that the government of Benjamin Netanyahu sent its request to Egypt during the recent visit of U.S. Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, and U.S. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, to Israel.
The Israeli government demanded Egypt to end what it called the “security chaos that is significantly increasing in Sinai”.
Maariv said that the main Israeli demand is that Egypt should “deploy its commandos in order to eliminate all terrorist cells in Sinai, instead of just deploying regular army units”.
The paper added that despite the fact that Israel allowed Egypt to deploy seven brigades in Sinai; the Egyptian government just deployed fewer units.
The Israeli government announced it will not be objecting to any Egyptian move that aims at eliminating terrorism as long as these units retreat after their operations in Sinai are concluded.
It also called on the Egyptian government to act on improving the economic situation of the Bedouin tribes in the peninsula, and to enable them to make use of tourism to achieve better income.
The Israeli demands and proposals were made during the meeting that was held between Netanyahu, Panetta and Clinton, as the two American officials visited Cairo before heading to Tel Aviv.
Maariv reported that the Netanyahu government expressed disappointment as the U.S. government “failed to pressure the newly elected Egyptian Islamist president, Mohammad Morsi, and the Muslim Brotherhood, into ensuring swift and decisive measures in Sinai”.
