US removing majority of Sinai peacekeepers
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US removing majority of Sinai peacekeepers |
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Posted by jpost on January 27, 19102 at 14:35:37:
US removing majority of Sinai peacekeepers
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By Janine Zacharia January, 27 2002
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WASHINGTON (January 27) - The Pentagon has decided to remove the vast majority
of 900 American peacekeepers from the Sinai peninsula and leave behind a
symbolic headquarters, a senior defense official told The Jerusalem Post on
Friday.
"We're finally just doing it. Nobody should take it personally," the official
said. No date for the redeployment has been set.
Since last April, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has made clear that he
would like to see the American mission in the Sinai end.
The American troops in the Sinai make up the bulk of the Multinational Force
and Observers, an independent international peacekeeping and verification
organization established by Egypt and Israel to monitor the security
arrangements after their 1979 peace treaty.
The cost of the MFO is shared evenly by Israel, Egypt, and the US, each
contributing $15 million per year as well as smaller donations by Germany,
Japan and Switzerland. The MFO staffs 13 checkpoints and 17 observation posts
in Sinai and along the Egypt-Israel border.
Israel and Egypt both oppose an American withdrawal, and some within the Bush
administration and outside it caution that tough times in the Middle East make
this an inauspicious time to leave the area.
Gal Luft, who served in the IDF and is now a doctoral candidate at Johns
Hopkins University says a US redeployment at the current time gives the
impression that the US could abandon other commitments and responsibilities in
the region.
"At a time when Arab countries are urging the US to introduce peacekeeping
forces in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the sight of US troops departing the
region is not likely to be well received. It will continue to feed the image
that the US is abdicating its responsibilities in the region," Luft wrote in an
analysis of the issue for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Rumsfeld disagrees. As recently as last week he said: "I do not believe that we
still need our forces in the Sinai. I just plain don't." The senior defense
official said: "We've come to the conclusion that the Sinai is peaceful, it's
quiet. The role we play is symbolic more than anything else."
"Both the Israelis and the Egyptians would rather have us stay and we're
flattered. We think this is a function that can be performed in a different way
with a smaller American presence and with certainly others," the official
added. "It is a good mission but it does not require Americans."
Israelis "shouldn't panic," the official said. "It will be done and the sun
will come up the next day and everybody will realize that the world hasn't
changed." The move is sparked primarily by budgetary concerns. Even with a
massive Pentagon budget increase in store, the war on terrorism has taxed the
American military and officials are scrambling to see where they can make cuts.
Another area is Bosnia where the US is trying to scale back its military
presence, despite protests from European allies.
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