The Vice Continues To Tighten Around Israel: Egypt Threatening

We've been following the ongoing situation in both Syria and Lebanon as potentially threatening Israel, and now in the south we continue to see ominous developments. Just after seeing a complete Muslim Brotherhood takeover of Egypt, now including the military, we see this most recent development:

In Violation Of Peace Accord, Egypt Deploying Troops In Sinai Without Israel's Prior Approval

The Egyptian army has been deploying large anti-terrorist forces in parts of the Sinai peninsula without informing Israel in advance. The peace treaty between the two countries limits the Egyptian military presence in Sinai.

Some of the Egyptian forces in the peninsula were sent there with Israel's consent, but Haaretz has learned that forces have also been deployed without Israel's prior approval. Israeli government officials only learned about it after the fact.

At the moment, Israel has decided not to respond to the unilateral Egyptian moves, apparently to avoid a confrontation. Nonetheless, it is seen as a source of future problems, particularly with the entrenchment of the Muslim Brotherhood's power in Egypt.

The situation puts Israel in a dilemma. Just three days ago, Mohammed Gadallah, legal adviser to President Mohammed Morsi, said the president was considering amendments to the Camp David Accords to provide Egypt with "full sovereignty" over the peninsula.

Speaking at the Islamic Solidarity Conference in Mecca yesterday, Morsi stressed that for Egypt and Arab Muslim countries, the Palestinian issue remains the most urgent, and called on the Palestinians to unite their ranks.

This week, Egypt's Information Minister Salah Abd al-Maksud, a Muslim Brotherhood member, said: "Egypt will not normalize relations with Israel until occupied Palestinian land is freed."

Maksud also said that "this entity [Israel] stole Palestinian lands, and for this reason we will not normalize relations with it until those lands are freed." The information minister was not asked, and did not specify, if the "occupied lands" include territory conquered in 1967, or all of Israel.

The Psalm 83/Isaiah 17 scenario seems closer and closer by the day.