The Egyptian armed forces are being deployed in Sinai for the first time since the Camp David Accords were signed between Egypt and Israel in 1978.
Armed forces have deployed nation-wide following a powerful wave of protests demanding the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak and the failure of security forces to tame protests on Friday.
An unnamed Israeli official told the Associated Press that Israel has allowed Egypt to deploy 800 soldiers and two battalions in the Sinai Peninsula. The troops moved to the Sharm al-Sheikh area in South Sinai. The 1978 agreement, which struck a peace deal between Egypt and Israel, prevents the Egyptian military from deploying in the border area.
Protests in North Sinai have focused on the release of prisoners. Many Bedouin tribesmen were arbitrarily arrested in Sinai following terrorist attacks that shook the peninsula in 2004, 2005 and 2006.
According to Ahmad Suweirki, a local journalist, protesters continue to gather in the area because they disapprove of the new cabinet appointed by Mubarak in the last few days in response to sweeping protests.
“The new cabinet does not satisfy the people’s demands,” Suweirki said. A few of those detained arbitrarily have already been released along with other prisoners who managed to flee the notorious prisons of Abu Zaabal, Fayoum and Wadi al-Natroun. They have joined their families in Sinai.
Some were however caught on their way to the peninsula and handed over to the army.
Egypt’s uprising has caused worries in Israel of potential unrest, especially in relation to the sensitive border region between Egypt and Gaza.
"The peace between Israel and Egypt has lasted for more than three decades and our objective is to ensure that these relations will continue to exist," said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his weekly cabinet meeting.
