Israel planning bufferzone handover to Egypt

Following top-level talks between Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Thursday, the two sides agreed on the deployment of some 750 Egyptian border police along the length of the so-called Philadelphi corridor.

Deployment of the Egyptian border police will initially be carried out in coordination with Israeli troops, with a full withdrawal of Israeli forces likely to take place some time after the planned evacuation of all troops and Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip, slated to begin on July 20.

"The direction is already clear," one Israeli security source told the Haaretz daily in connection with the pullout of troops from the buffer zone.

"It won't happen immediately, and apparently not as part of the disengagement (Israel's evacuation of Gaza), but the army will not remain in Philadelphi for long."

However, he stressed that the tentative agreement reached between Mofaz and Mubarak on Thursday was dependent on Egypt's success in countering cross-border smuggling efforts by Palestinian militants.

"Assuming that the disengagement from the Strip is carried out in coordination with the Palestinians, that the Egyptians assist, and that the volume of smuggling declines -- we will leave Philadelphi."

The defence ministry refused to comment on the troop withdrawal from Philadelphi, and talking to the media in Sharm el-Sheikh, Mofaz also refused to confirm such an agreement had been reached in principle.

"We have not yet decided that the IDF (army) should leave Philadelphi. If the smuggling stops, we'll consider it," he told reporters in Sharm el-Sheikh following the talks.

But security sources were more candid.

"Over the long term, there is no reasonable way to hold on to Philadelphi," a senior military source told Haaretz, explaining that were Israeli troops to remain in the flashpoint buffer zone, it was likely to become a focal-point for militant attacks as happened in Lebanon.