Egyptian Calls to Amend Camp David Accords Continue
by JNS.org
Mohamed Esmat Seif Al-Dawla, an advisor to Islamist Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, became the latest official to call for his country to amend the 1979 Camp David Accords with Israel.
According to Israel Radio, Al-Dawla said the peace treaty with Israel limits Egypt’s flexibility in the Sinai during a time when the country needs to increase its military presence in that area—where on Aug. 5, a terrorist attack killed 16 Egyptian soldiers.
Al-Dawla’s statement follows that of Morsi’s judicial advisor Mohamed Gaddalah, who earlier in August said the president is interested in amending Camp David “with regards to the deployment of forces in Sinai,” Al-Masri Al-Youm reported. Additionally, Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby told The Cairo Review of Global Affairs in a recently published article that Egypt should amend the treaty because Israel is violating it with respect to the Palestinians.
The Egpytian Defense Ministry said in a statement Aug. 29 that Egypt’s campaign against terrorism in the Sinai had killed 11 terrorists and arrested 23. On Aug. 27, Morsi—giving his first interview with an international media outlet—told Reuters that other countries should not be concerned about Egypt’s actions in the Sinai.