An aerial image of Dimona

Additional Reporting By Mohammad Ziyada, IOL Staff

CAIRO, December 24 (IslamOnline.net) – An Israeli daily claimed Wednesday, December 24, that Egyptian spy drones had been detected over Israel's nuclear reactor Dimona, while Egyptian military experts regarded the piece as part of a series of baseless incessant Israeli provocations.

Maariv newspaper reported on its online edition that Israeli radars detected Egyptian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in recent weeks over the nuclear research facility at Nahal Sorek and the missile test site at Palmahim, south of Tel Aviv, according to a Sunday Times report.

An Israeli military source told the British daily that the Egyptian move contravenes the 1979 peace treaty between Israel and Egypt.

Another source told Maariv that the news was a cause for concern for the Jewish state, adding that the Egyptians should bear in mind that Israel was capable of putting a halt to such "violations".

When contacted by the Israeli paper, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would not comment.

Israeli security sources further downplayed the news, saying that such drones would not get valuable intelligence.

Provocative

Egyptian military experts, however, ridiculed the report as part of a series of Israeli provocations to Cairo, citing the latest Israeli raid in the Gaza Strip city of Rafah adjacent to the Egyptian border and claims of tunnels used to smuggle weapons from Egypt.

Dr. Talat Mosallam doubted that Egyptian planes had breached the Israeli airspace.

"The Israeli maneuver is aimed at dragging Egypt into a real crisis and making it reconsider its position on the Palestinian cause and Syria," Mosallam told IslamOnline.net.

He ruled out that the claim is related to the visit of Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Maher to Israel.

Maher was heckled and shoved by a group of Palestinians while he was making his way through the esplanade of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The head of the Palestinian Liberation Organization's (PLO's) politburo, Farouk Kadoumi, said that the attack was an Israeli "machination".

Mohammad Aboud, an expert at Israeli affairs in Ain Shams University's Research Center, said Egypt has never contravened its peace treaty with Israel since nearly 25 years ago.

"But the Israelis did broke the treaty. The deployment of Israeli tanks to the Egyptian borders over the past few days is a case in point," Aboud said.

Egypt is the first Arab country to hammer out a peace treaty with Israel.

He agreed that Israel wants to provoke Egypt into a crisis "to damage its pivotal role on the Palestinian arena either by pitting the Egyptians and the Palestinians against one another or launching provocative media and press campaigns".

Egypt and Jordan are the only two Arab countries to have diplomatic ties with Israel but relations have been strained since the start of Al-Aqsa Intifada.

A thaw in relations, however, has been detected in recent weeks with Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom recently meeting Mubarak in Geneva.