Sharon's Next Land Mine [Bringing Heavily Equipped Egyptian Army To Border]

2005-04-18

Gideon Alon

Haaretz

www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=566092& contrassID=2&subContrassID= 5&sbSubContrassID=0

The chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, MK Yuval Steinitz (Likud), tried last week to embarrass Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. On the very day that Sharon landed in Texas for his meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush, Steinitz leaked to the media a legal opinion that says that the plan to station 750 Egyptian soldiers on the Philadelphi route constitutes a substantive change in the peace agreement with Egypt, and therefore it must brought to the Knesset for approval.

Steinitz's hopes were dashed. The leak of the legal opinion did not stir up much of a fuss and probably didn't embarrass Sharon. But Steinitz has a burning belief that he will succeed in thwarting the plan.

"I've asked Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin to address the government and ask it not to carry out this dangerous move until it is brought for the Knesset's approval," he says. "I very much hope that I will succeed in recruiting a majority in the Knesset to thwart it. If this plan is implemented, it will be a real disaster. Bringing 750 Egyptian soldiers in to the Philadelphi route, equipped with armored vehicles and APCs, is like bringing the Iranian Revolutionary Guard into Jenin. I know that this move is also causing profound anxiety among the top echelons of the Israel Defense Forces."

Steinitz argues that bringing in these 750 soldiers is "just a pilot (project)" that will later be expanded to 4,000 Egyptian soldiers with armored vehicles being positioned along the border with Israel - from Kerem Shalom to Eilat - something that is completely contrary to the peace agreement with Egypt, in which the demilitarization of Sinai was agreed.

Custom dictates

In the leaked opinion, the legal adviser to the Knesset committee, attorney Miri Frenkel-Shor writes, "In my opinion bringing a force of the Egyptian Border Guard into Area C [which is supposed to be completely demilitarized - G.A.] constitutes a substantial change in the Military Appendix, which ostensibly does not concord with what is stated there and its purpose." She quotes Sharon, who at a meeting of the committee on April 4 said that the border guard force to be deployed would consist of 750 soldiers and its mission would be to secure the border, in order to prevent infiltration by terrorists and the smuggling of materiel.

Sharon also noted that this was a pilot project that would be examined with due deliberation jointly by both sides in the first phase only in Gaza. Following the experiment, it would be decided whether it is possible to expand the forces and deploy them southwards. Sharon stressed that "this is not about a military force for purposes that are not included in its agreed-upon mandate. The infrastructure and the materiel that will serve the force will be appropriate. That is: No military command posts, materiel storehouses or dugouts will be built. The entry of tanks or other heavy weapons will not be permitted."

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz appeared before the committee last week and said, "The IDF is in contact with the Egyptian army on the matter of the kinds of materiel to be issued to the border guard personnel. There is no intention of changing the peace agreement, and in the coming weeks a protocol is slated to be signed by the two armies."

Representatives of the rightist factions support Steinitz's approach. MK Ehud Yatom of the Likud said: "I demand that the agreement be brought to this committee for approval. In my opinion, the Egyptian force that will be deployed in Gaza will not only not help prevent smuggling, but will also disrupt the military balance along the border and endanger the country's security."

The chairman of the opposition, MK Yosef Lapid of Shinui, has reservations about bringing Egyptian forces to the Gaza Strip area for fear that "sooner or later there will be an incident between Israeli and Egyptian soldiers that could flare up into a broader war."

Shas chairman MK Eli Yishai believes that "the extensive integration of Egyptian forces into the area of the Gaza Strip constitutes an obvious deviation from what is stated in the peace agreement. It would seem that the body that approved the agreement (i.e. the Knesset - G.A.) is the body that must approve the changes, as the mouth that has forbidden is the mouth that will permit."

MK Eliezer Sandberg of Shinui also expressed the fear that bringing Egyptian forces to the Gaza Strip area "would expose Israel to a strategic danger, and therefore it is untenable that this be done without the Knesset's approval."

However, MK Ran Cohen of Yahad has reservations about these positions. "I support the deployment of Egyptian soldiers along the Philadelphi route to prevent the smuggling of material into the Gaza Strip," he said. However, he, too, believes that "this initiative is contrary to agreement with Egypt" and therefore "it is essential to bring it for Knesset approval."

Attorney Frenkel-Shor stated in her opinion, "Even though it is not stipulated by law that it is obligatory to bring international agreements for Knesset approval, there is an established custom that dictates that such agreements are brought for its approval, for example, the peace agreement between Egypt and Israel and the agreement between the government and the Palestinian Authority. My opinion is that when an agreement is approved by the Knesset and a substantial change is made in it, this change should be brought to the Knesset for approval."

The question is whether Sharon is obligated to adopt attorney Frenkel-Shor's recommendation and bring the arrangement with Egypt to the Knesset plenum for approval, or if he can ignore it. Under the law, the government relies on the attorney general's opinion, and not on the opinions of other legal advisers. Thus far Attorney General Menachem Mazuz has not been asked to give his opinion on this issue. His bureau says that "no one has applied to Mazuz or asked him to express his opinion."

Rivlin says that this week he intends to consult with Mazuz and with Cabinet Secretary Yisrael Maimon before he formulates his opinion on this issue.

An official in the Prime Minister's Bureau has said: "The opinion of the legal adviser to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee does not obligate the prime minister. If the attorney general determines that the agreement must be brought before the Knesset for approval, we will do so."

A senior Defense Ministry source says that attorney Frenkel-Shor's opinion was given without any consultation with anyone in the defense establishment and is based on imprecise details.

Deputy Defense Minister Ze'ev Boim says, "The Defense Ministry's recommendations are the result of thorough discussions between the Israeli and Egyptian security branches. This move is an Israeli interest. It will be implemented experimentally and the transition from phase to phase in the deployment will be carried out on the basis of the assessment of the previous phase."

Golda, for example

Even though there is nothing in the law that obligates the government to bring diplomatic agreements or peace treaties to the Knesset for approval, ever since the establishment of the state it has been customary to do so. Michael Ben-Yair, a former attorney general, related to the issue in 1994 in an opinion he prepared at the request of then-prime minister Yitzhak Rabin. He noted that Israel's "diplomatic history" shows that diplomatic agreements are brought before the Knesset for its information, for its prior approval or for its retroactive approval. As there is no defined and binding legal source for bringing such agreements to the Knesset, Ben-Yair believes that the custom, or the constitutional understanding, serves as the basis for the opinion that it is appropriate for the government to bring such agreements for Knesset approval; peace treaties, as distinct from other diplomatic agreements, should be brought before the Knesset before they become a "done deed."

When prime minister Menachem Begin brought the peace treaty with Egypt before the Knesset for its approval in March 1979, he said: "I have come to give an accounting to the House of the recent moves that have brought us to this day, to this blessed hour when I can stand before the members of the Knesset and recommend to them that they approve a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel." He also stated that "the government, even if it approves this agreement, will not sign it until after the Knesset has approved it in advance."

All of the other prime ministers acted in the same way. In 1949, David Ben- Gurion brought the cease-fire agreements with Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan before the Knesset for its approval. In 1973, Golda Meir brought the separation of forces agreement with Egypt before the Knesset for its approval. A year later, the separation of forces agreement with Syria was brought before the Knesset. In 1978, Begin brought the Camp David agreements to the Knesset for its approval and in 1993, Rabin brought the Oslo Accords ("Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements" in the territories).

The previous attorney general, Elyakim Rubinstein, determined in 1998 that steps involving the handover of territories to the Palestinian Authority must not be carried out before the approval of the Wye agreement by the Knesset. "It appears to me that insofar as it is a matter of an agreement that concerns the transfer of land areas and other weighty issues, it is appropriate that this be given the Knesset's approval," wrote Rubinstein.

On the assumption that Sharon will be compelled to bring the arrangement with Egypt for Knesset approval, Steinitz thinks that he will be able to recruit a majority in the Knesset against the plan to deploy 750 Egyptian soldiers along the Philadelphi route. "I believe that most of the members of the Likud faction, including quite a number of ministers, will oppose approving this arrangement. The Shinui, Shas, National Union and National Religious Party factions will also vote against it - and thus we will be able to thwart this stupid move. I do not think that at this time there is anything more important for me to do than stop this dangerous arrangement," says Steinitz.

At the Prime Minister's Bureau they are convinced, however, that "if the issue is brought before the Knesset, there is no doubt that it will be approved by a large majority."

Source: IMRA – Independent Media Review and Analysis