Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsy studies the issue of Camp David amendments

Mohamed, Morsy, Egypt's President

According to Mohamed Gadallah, the legal adviser of Egypt’s President,Mohammed Morsy is studying now the issue of amendments the Camp David peace accords to ensure Egypt’s sovereignty and maintaining the full control in Sinai Peninsula.

Camp David peace treaty was signed in 1979 between Egypt and Israel and regulates Egypt’s military presence in Sinai. The territory of Sinai Peninsula was divided into several parts, where there is different grade of armed forces. Egypt is not allowed to deploy the additional armed forces and heavy weapons in some Sinai regions, such as eastern and southern Sinai, for example. The terms of Camp David determine also the types and classes and the number of the weapon and the number of the troops as well present in Sinai. According to this peace treaty, Egypt cannot deploy its forces on the territory close to Israeli border, and only the international peacekeeper forces and Egypt’s light arms and police can be presented there. Any additional deployment of the armed forces and conducting the military operations should be approved by Israel. It means that Egypt cannot fully control Sinai, and it was also one of the reasons of worsening the situation in the region.

The terrible attack happened one week ago at the border close Rafah and left 16 Egyptian soldiers dead and 7 wounded and the following series of clashes between Egypt’s armed forces and police and the militants at the border checkpoints and police stations proved that the situation in Sinai is extremely tense and difficult and needs decisive actions. Egyptian military started the massive offensive in Sinai to eliminate the terrorists responsible for the border attacks and establishing the terrorist network on the Sinai territory using the security vacuum which came after ouster of Hosni Mubarak. The additional armed forces and air craft were deployed in the region, but it required the approval of Israeli side. Israel is willing to cooperate with Egypt fighting the militants in Sinai and approved Egyptian request for deploying the additional forces, but the current situation demands another conditions for Egyptian side.

The historical signing of Camp David peece treaty between
Egypt and Israel. From left to right:
Egypt's President Anwar El-Sadat, US President Jimmy Carter
and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin

The terms of Camp David peace treaty have to be reviewed and amended to allow Egyptian side to establish the full control in the region for restoring the security, stability and peace in the region. There were numerous calls in Egypt for changing the Camp David treaty during the past year. The situation escalated last summer after the border attack near Israeli Eilat which left Egyptian soldiers killed as a result of Israeli firing. Israel didn’t apologize, and that sparked the great anger in the society and provoked the massive protests with the people calling for the cancelling the peace treaty and breaking the diplomatic relationships with Israel. The Israeli embassy was stormed. That was really hard moment and one of the deepest crises in Egyptian-Israeli diplomatic relationships. The calls for amendment to the peace accords were very vocal that time.

Egypt's Sinai Peninsula

After the current events those calls were renewed, with the numerous politicians, political analysts and Egyptian citizens calling for changing the terms of Egypt-Israeli peace treaty. The president’s legal adviser stressed today, that Mohamed Morsy is already studying the issue of Camp David amendments. After Mosry was sworn in as a president, he declared in his presidential speech that he and his country will respect all the international treaties signed by Egypt, including the one with Israel, as it is one of the pillars of stability and peace in Middle East and is important for the both countries. But the peace accords require the changes, and Egypt’s President is working in this field now.

It’s worth mentioning that one of the presidential candidates, Hamdeen Sabbahy, was called for the amendments on Saturday. The Egypt’s Revolutionary Youth Union has filed a lawsuit before an administrative court demanding that the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel to be amended.