Sunday Times: expanded conflict in the Middle East
Egypt-Israel, Politics, 8/13/2001

The British daily "Sunday Times" issued on Sunday in London stressed that the threat to expand the conflict in the Middle East has been escalating after the Egyptian government started to study the possibility of sending the third armored army to Sinai desert, if Israel will move its forces inside the Palestinian territories.

In a report from Tel Aviv written by the paper's correspondent Ozi Maneymi, the British daily said that a high ranking Egyptian army officer stressed the possibility of sending the third Egyptian army to Sinai. He said that Israel should be prevented from destroying the Palestinians and the Palestinian Authority especially the leader of the Palestinian Authorities Yasser Arafat.

The paper quoted a high ranking Palestinian source as saying that Arafat had urged Mubarak in July to implement the common Arab defense treaty which was ratified by the Arab league, but the Egyptian President has not taken any measure so far despite the fact that he said earlier that no peace will be attained in the Middle East as far as Ariel Sharon is a prime minister for the Israeli government.

The paper added that Israeli security sources say that the intervention of President Mubarak has been changing at the meantime into a military planning and threatened that the deployment of any Egyptian forces into Sinai will constitute a violation to the Egyptian- Israeli peace treaty.

The Israeli security sources stressed that Israel will send huge forces to defend its southern borders and thereby to increase the possibilities of a military confrontation between Egypt and Israel, for the first time since 1973.

The paper said that the Egyptian army has been greatly developed during the 30 past years and is considered one of the most developed Arab armies because of its US- made equipment.

The paper noted that the northern Israeli borders with Syria is not of less tension, adding that in July the advisor for the Egyptian President Osama al-Baz said that Syria will not be alone if it will be exposed to an Israeli attack.

The paper quoted Israeli intelligence sources as saying in a report that all Israeli borders will witness military confrontations if the situation will be deteriorated with the Palestinians, as the Hizbullah party in Lebanon has vowed to provide full support for the Palestinians.

The paper went on saying that the Israeli government takes into account another enemy who is Saddam Hussein, noting that the Iraqi government deployed its forces towards the Jordanian borders twice since the launching of the Palestinian Intifada.

Previous Stories:
  Sharon and others to be tried as war criminals   (8/9/2001)
  Reporters without frontiers condemn Israeli attack on Egyptian TV correspondent   (8/4/2001)
  Cairo denies intention to cut relations with Israel   (8/4/2001)

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