Fat Lady Has Sung: The Multinational Force and Observers in the Sinai

摘要

Organized as a result of a requirement found in the 1979 Camp David Accord negotiations, the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) was created in 1982 to supervise treaty security protocols on the Sinai peninsula between Israel and Egypt. Today, the MFO is an independent, international organization supported financially by the governments of Egypt, Israel and the United States. Through the military contributions of the U.S. and 10 other countries, it stands as an example of a highly successful peacekeeping organization. That success has helped to alter the Mid East environment which is stunningly different from 1979. And yet the MFO has changed very little over the years. Based on world and regional developments, changes are appropriate for the MFO which can herald a more mature Egyptian--Israeli relationship, relieve contributing nations of resource burdens, and free U.S. forces for other, more pressing, obligations. A critical review of the MFO is particularly relevant today as the U.S. contemplates whether to provide peacekeepers to help secure another Arab-Israeli treaty, in this case between Syria and Israel.