 Egypt is considering intensifying its cooperation with Israel in countering the smuggling of arms from Sinai to the Gaza Strip, Palestinian sources told Haaretz on Tuesday.
| Any day now, you can count on it ... |
The Egyptians will also cooperate on intelligence in tracking down Palestinian fugitives who reach the Sinai side of the Rafah crossing.
| Oh yeah, they'll rat out their religious brothers too, check's in the mail ... |
During the weekend, senior delegations from Israel, Egypt, the United States and the Palestinian Authority met at a posh hotel in Cairo. The meeting was chaired by U.S. Lieutenant General Keith Dayton, the security coordinator between Israel and the Palestinians.
Representing Israel at the meeting was Amos Gilad, the head of the political-defense department at the Ministry of Defense. The Palestinians were represented by the head of Internal Security, Rashid Abu Shbach. Egypt's chief of intelligence, Omar Suleiman, did not attend, but his aides were present.
| Which tells you everything you need to know about what the Egyptians are going to do. |
A similar meeting was held about a month ago in Jerusalem.
| And look how the Egyptians cracked down on arms smuggling after that meeting, by golly ... |
The sources said the meeting was positive, but that criticism was directed at the level of Egyptian involvement to date. Special focus was given to Egypt's unsatisfactory activities in countering the smuggling of arms to the Gaza Strip through tunnels running under the border area with Sinai.
The Egyptians were also asked to broaden their efforts in countering cells of extremist Islamic groups that have set up bases there.
All sides asked Egypt to stop, on the Egyptian side of the border, Palestinian and other terrorists who attempt to enter the Gaza Strip through Sinai. These include militants that Israel may not be aware of and are not on its stop-lists.
The Palestinian sources said the results of the first meeting were positive, but insufficient. The results of the Cairo meeting will be clear in the near future, they said.
| Of course they Paleos thought it was positive. Nothing happened, and nothing's going to happen. |
|