Last minute diplomatic efforts by Washington defused a potentially disastrous situation and helped to resolve the Egyptian-Israeli crisis before their 1979 peace accord was overturned. A compromise was reached when Cairo agreeing not to recall its ambassador from Israel, and the Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak issued a public apology for the deaths of the three Egyptian policemen. Relations soured when three Egyptian policemen were killed in clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian terrorists on the Eilat road. Israel agreed to a joint investigation with Egypt into the killings and to renegotiate terms on the posting of Egyptian forces in eastern Sinai.

Nonetheless, the prospects of cross border raids have been raised across the region to deal with extremists and nationalistic movements. This trend poses dangerous consequences for the nation-state system.

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