TEL AVIV — Israel has opened two military bases along the border
with Egypt.
The Ground Forces Command launched bases at Hivai and Karmit this week.
Each base was designed to accommodate a battalion-size force and would come
under the command of Division 80.
Division 80, commanded by Brig. Gen. Imad Fares, has been responsible
for trying to stop the flow of weapons and illegal drugs from Egypt's Sinai
Peninsula to Israel. The division was bolstered in wake of Israel's
unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank in
September 2005.
Military sources said Egypt has failed to stop the increasing flow of
weapons from Sinai to the neighboring Gaza Strip. They said Palestinian
insurgency groups, particularly the ruling Hamas movement, have ordered
missiles, rockets and standard explosives.
[On Wednesday, an Israeli woman was killed in a Palestinian missile
strike. At least 10 Kassam-class, short-range missiles were fired from the
northern Gaza Strip into Israel.]
The two bases marked the start of what the sources termed an advanced
security system along the Egyptian border. They said Division 80 would be
responsible for an electronic fence along the 230 kilometer border that
would be augmented by air and ground patrols.
The government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has not approved funding
for the border security program, estimated at $500 million. The project was
approved by then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2005 but never financed.
