<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[PNN &#8211; Palestine News Network &#8211; Egyptian Army Returns to Sinai, Israeli Army Locks Down&nbsp;Border]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p>01.02.11 &#8211; 11:35</p>
<p>Cairo – PNN &#8211; For the first time since the signing of the  Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty of 1979, Egyptian army units moved into  the Sinai Peninsula as part of an effort to secure the tourist resort of  Sharm al-Sheikh. The deployment was agreed upon by Israel, which in  turn moved Israeli army units to the Egyptian border to prevent  infiltration by militants.</p>
<div class="mosimage" style="float:right;width:500px;border-width:2px;"><img title="Image" src="https://i1.wp.com/english.pnn.ps/images/stories/2008/Sinai.jpg" border="0" alt="Image" hspace="6" width="428" height="336" /></p>
<div class="mosimage_caption" style="text-align:center;">Egypt&#8217;s Nile Delta and the Sinai Peninsula (PNN Archive).</div>
</div>
<p>The  Egyptian deployment consisted of about 800 troops in the relatively  calm area, which has seen—in comparison with the nearly 100 civilian  deaths reported between Cairo, Suez, and Alexandria—just only a few  incidents. Tourists at Sharm al-Sheikh told the Guardian newspaper that  the situation was “pretty relaxed” and one Israeli tourist said Sinai  was “completely calm, a paradise.” Tourism makes up about 11% of the  Egyptian gross domestic product (GDP).</p>
<p>Israeli military  authorities cleared the move with their Egyptian counterparts on Monday  and began emergency deployments of their own, maneuvering army and  border police units along the Israel-Egypt border.</p>
<p>According to  the Associated Press, “Israeli officials have grown increasingly  concerned about the stability of their southern neighbor. They are  especially worried that Palestinian militants could take advantage of  the unrest to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip through tunnels under  the Egypt-Gaza border.”</p>
<p>In addition to preventing militants from  crossing the border, Israeli military authorities claim they must  prepare for the possibility of masses of unarmed asylum-seekers, such as  the Sinai Bedouin.</p>
<p>“We know that if the Bedouin start fleeing the  Egyptian army, it will be into Israel,” an Israeli regional chairman  told Israeli online newspaper Ha’aretz.</p>
<p><a href="http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&amp;task=view&amp;id=9485&amp;Itemid=61">PNN &#8211; Palestine News Network &#8211; Egyptian Army Returns to Sinai, Israeli Army Locks Down Border</a>.</p>
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