Israel-Egypt "Arrangement" Gives De Facto Recognition To Israeli Control Of Gaza Waters?

2005-09-01

Aaron Lerner

The "Agreed Arrangements Regarding The Deployment of a Designated Force of Border Guards Along The Border in the Rafah Area" - final draft 15.8.05 - as presented to the Knesset, provides de-facto recognition of Israel's control of the waters off the Gaza Strip - at least near the Egypt-Gaza border.

The preamble sets "the Parties" as Israel and Egypt.

Article 63. "Maritime infiltration, smuggling (including smuggling of arms) or terrorist activity that crosses the Maritime Tactical Coordination Line shall be dealt with by the Party in whose sector of activity the perpetrators are located."

Thus Egypt recognizes that the area of the water on the Gaza side of the border is in Israel's "sector of activity".

There is no mention of the Palestinians in the entire text. For example,

Article 33. "aerial activity in the proximity of the border or in the case of an emergency will be coordinated directly between the Egyptian helicopter involved and Israeli Air Traffic Control authorities."

Paradoxically, while the "Arrangement" does introduce some equipment that was not present before (67 7.62mm caliber machine guns of which 31 shall be mounted on "Fahed 20" Wheeled Armored Personnel Carriers" and 27 RPG-7 launchers with up to 3 rounds per launcher of either anti-personnel or incendiary rounds) the physical presence to prevent smuggling went from the previous unlimited number of police armed with assault rifles and protected by body armor to a total of "750 Border Guard personnel".

While Israeli officials - when asked - will confirm - after checking - that the Israel-Egypt Treaty set no limit on the number of police armed with assault rifles and protected by body armor (or, for that matter, the employment histories of those police [e.g. if the issue was the skills of the police the Treaty does not prohibit the "recruitment" of recently "retired" soldiers]) that could be deployed in the border area, it would appear that this piece of information for some reason has never gained expression in Israeli thinking.

Source: IMRA – Independent Media Review and Analysis