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Page 32 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE December 1 2, 1986
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Cutting edge
Keeping Sinai peace is dull MFO duty
£ Look,if anybody stays in camp without a break, they start
climbing the walls. I myself am going on my third week
without leave and the cabin fever is starting.” Getting off
the base is important. Whether it’s Tel Aviv, the Pyramids or
the beaches at the bottom fo the Sinai triangle, MFO people
know they must get out regularly to keep their sanity. 5
— Sgt. Skip West
by Edwin Black
Somehow the flies have con
gregated to the Egyptian side of
the border. This is the first
remarkable thing you discover
when traveling to the interna
tional peacekeeping force that
polices the demilitarized zones
between Egypt and Israel. Known
in both Hebrew and Arabic simply
as “MFO." the Multinational
Forces and Observers is an ex
ample of an American-sponsored
peacekeeping mission in the
Middle East that is working.
Sinai's peace is managed first
and foremost with a map. divid-
ing“the triangle" into four demil
itarized and limited forces zones.
The most completely demilitar
ized Zone is C. a narrow strip of
Sinai, about 35 miles deep in
some places, paralleling the
border with Israel and then dow n
to Sharm El Sheik. Egypt is only
permitted lightly armed civilian
police forces in this zone. M FO's
job is to verify compliance.
Driving away from the border
terminal at Rafiah, one is con
fronted with the starkness of
Egyptian Sinai. Wide stretches
of dune and dust are peppered
mainly by lean-tos housing
Bedouin families. A shack the
size of a storefront is the local
hospital. Three or four box-like
concrete hovels constitute bold
new housing.
The reality is that when Egypt
regained the Sinai, it was returned
not to the 20th century, but to the
several thousand desert families
who always dwelled here and
have little need for the encroach
ments of war, politics or urban
planning. They seek no more
than water, grazing for their
goats, and a fire when the night
becomes a sparkling black mys
tery. This is the true Sinai. So
when the MFO swears to moni
tor the demilitarization of this
desert, in truth they mean moni
toring the status quo ante of
centuries.
MFO headquarters itself,
known as North Camp, lies just
south of El Arish at a map mark
and former Israeli military base
known as El Ghoura. You know
you’re getting close, when you
pass a notorious roadside shanty
known as Bedouin Bob’s. Actu
ally, this is the new Bedouin
Bob’s, specializing in trinkets
and fast stories. The original
Bedouin Bob’s was a lice mer
chant, known for selling drugs
and corruption. When MFO
commanders learned of the traf
fic, they took immediate action.
His shanty was bulldozed within
the hour, and the last anyone saw
of Bob was his backside on a
camel riding into another sector
of the desert.
Once inside the heavily barb-
wired perimeter, the base itself
seems more like a suburban
shopping center than a military
fortification. Tidy barracks and
housing compounds are spacious
ly arranged. Soldiers shuttle back
and forth on bicycles exchanging
small talk as they pass.
No one expects to find an ice
machine, or a U.S. mailbox —
one collection daily—in the mid
dle of the Sinai. But it’s here. The
dining room provides exquisite
homemade food, served cafeteria
style. Typical entrees include very
rare roast beef, sumptuous cab
bage rolls, thick and juicy steaks
and turkey Wellington.
“We try to make the surround
ings as normal as possible, even
though it’s in the middle of the
Sinai,” says Maj. John Eagles, an
American information officer at
tached to MFO. That in mind,
the base store stocks the bare
necessities of life at vastly subsid
ized prices: Dom Perignon cham
pagne, $36.50 per bottle; Jamie
son Irish Whiskey, $3.75; Glen-
livet Malt Whisky, $10.
America’s 800 men constitute
only about 40 percent of MFO.
The others are drawn from
France, England, Colombia, Fiji,
Italy, the Netherlands, Uruguay
and certain other nations on a
rotating basis. Each contingent is
assigned a separate mission:
Americans and Fijians serve in
infantry units, the British main
tain the headquarters, the French
handle airplanes, the Italians are
in charge of coastal patrols, and
so on. A sense of unity makes the
multinational force work like
one.
A 10-flag force is hard to con
trol. National rivalries are not
permitted. Rank is rank, regard
less of flag. An American ser
geant salutes a Uruguayan lieu
tenant, and obeys any commands
he might give. “Each man respects
his own country,” explains a
British officer, “but works espe
cially hard to avoid friction
with any soldier of another na
tion.” At M FO, “no one’s allowed
to not get along,” asserts Maj.
Eagles.
“Out here, we can’t afford it,”
explains one officer. “1 remember
an American soldier really set a
bad example. He got drunk once
or twice, insulted some people.
Within 24 hours of the second
infraction, his bags were packed
and he was shipped out.”
Indeed MFO knows its mis
sion cannot be accomplished
professionally unless the stifling
boredom of the Sinai can be
overcome. Therefore, social and
recreational planning, as limited
as it may be, is an MFO priority.
"Out here, we can’t exactly go to
Pizza Hut, and there’s no real
local population to interact with,”
quipped Maj. Eagles. “We have
an intense understanding that we
are isolated.”
“Look, if anybody stays in camp
without a break," admits Ameri
can rec director Sgt. Skip West,
“they start climbing the walls. I
myself am going on my third
week without leave, and the cabin
fever is starting." Getting off the
base is important. Whether it's
Tel Aviv, the Pyramids or the
beaches at the bottom of the
Sinai triangle, M FO people know
they must get out regularly to
keep their sanity.
While men in khaki armed
with grenade launchers and M-
16s deploy along checkpoints,
the real backbone of MFO is a
rotating cadre of mild-mannered
civilians in yellow jump suits
known as “the observers.” MFO
officials are fond of declaring,
“We are not enforcers. In this
peace, we are the bookkeepers,
not the cops.”
Drawn mostly from retired
State Department and Pentagon
personnel responding to posted
notices for volunteers, the sev
eral dozen observers’job is to fly
over strategic tracts of Sinai’s
four zones verifying that there
are no treaty violations. Travel
ing in distinctive white helicop
ters, the observers record any
deviation, and promptly report
them to both sides. Suspected
infractions must be immediately
rectified.
“These two countries want
peace, and so there are never any
violations to speak of,” asserts an
MFO official. “Sometimes we
might see an overflight by a mil
itary aircraft,” explains an ob
server, "or a supply truck strays.
But oui job is to wi ite it down, so
we do.”
In the event any hostilities
really did break out, MFO per
sonnel are only authorized to
shoot back in momentary self-
defense. “1 can tell you this much,”
asserts an MFO soldier, “if I saw
a column of Egyptian tanks com
ing this way, I’d feel a lot better
seeing a column of Israeli tanks
coming from the other direction.”
But the peace between Egypt
and Israel is holding. Under in
ternational law, MFO could not
be peaceably terminated without
the consent of both Israel and
Egypt. That looks unlikely for
the foreseeable future. “We
couldn’t do without it,” declares
an Egyptian diplomat in Wash
ington. Israeli officials in Jerusa
lem agree. “They are doing a very
good job, and in Israel, they have
our respect,” declares Foreign
Ministry spokesman Ehud Gol.
But MFO officials assert that
they deserve no credit. “The only
reason we’re successful,” insists
Maj. Eagles, “is because both
sides want peace. Peacekeepers
have been kicked out of the Sinai
before. But this time, both coun
tries are committed to no more
war. All we do is keep the books
on their commitment.”
This article is adapted from a
forthcoming cover story in the
International Jewish Monthly.
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