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The Smuggling Tunnels

[Ha'aretz] Amos Harel - The U.S. administration's willingness to talk with the Egyptians about ideas for halting weapons smuggling across the Gaza-Egypt border reflects Washington's belated recognition of the severity of the problem. But the first solution to the problem must be substantive, not technical: As long as Cairo does not view the war on weapons smuggling as a genuine Egyptian interest, no real progress will occur. The challenge is first and foremost an intelligence problem: Egyptian intelligence must identify the various links in the smuggling chain, which begins at the Sudanese border. The problem is that Washington is already leaning toward accepting the Egyptians' claim that only by increasing their forces along the border (which would require amending the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty of 1979) can they contend with the threat. But the U.S. has erred in its assessments of this part of the world before - from the border-crossings agreement that Secretary of State Rice forced on the parties in November 2005 (which was never fully implemented) to the exaggerated confidence that U.S. security coordinator Dayton demonstrated in Fatah's ability to fight Hamas in Gaza just six months ago.
2007-12-17 01:00:00
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