By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani
"CAIRO, May 9, 2012 (IPS) - The two weeks since Egypt's abrupt cancellation of a Mubarak-era gas-export deal with Israel have seen an exchange of indirect threats and warnings between the two countries, culminating in an apparent Israeli military build-up on the border of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.
"In recent days, Israel appears to have begun preparing for military deployments on its southern border," Tarek Fahmi, head of the Israel desk at the Cairo-based National Centre for Middle East Studies, told IPS.......
In a further apparent escalation last week, reports emerged that Israel planned to deploy at least 22 reserve battalions to its borders with Syria and Egypt due to "growing instability" and possible "security threats" emanating from both countries. Israel's military has reportedly already approved official requests for the call-up of reserve forces.
"Recent developments point to an Israeli military build-up on the border with Sinai, carried out in order to deal with Egypt from a position of strength," said Fahmi. "In the absence of a diplomatic resolution of the current crisis in relations, it would be a mistake to dismiss the potential for eventual military conflict." "
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