TEL AVIV, Israel, July 13 (UPI) -- Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he would ask Israel's Knesset to approve an agreement with Egypt to post better-trained border guards near the Gaza Strip.
The impending agreement would provide for replacing the current police forces with better-trained and equipped border guards to prevent arms smuggling into Gaza.
Israel would then withdraw from the border area and open the Gaza Strip to Egypt.
The chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Yuval Steinitz, who is very suspicious of Egypt, demanded the protocol be presented to the Knesset for a vote since it amends the Israeli-Egyptian peace agreement that limits Egyptian armed presence in the border area.
Israel's Attorney General Meni Mazuz maintained no Knesset approval is required since there is no substantive change to the peace treaty, which the Knesset approved.
