MULTINATIONAL FORCE AND OBSERVERS

______In 1979, despite a series of wars fought with Israel (or rather, because of them) Egypt found itself deprived of its Sinai peninsula. The Israelis had occupied it since the Six-Day War and used it to secure its own borders while in a position to shut down the Suez Canal. Having been attacked by Egypt as recently as 1973 the Israelis were understandably reluctant to part with the Sinai, and just as understandably the Egyptians wanted to the humiliating occupation of its territory to end.
______Enter Jimmy Carter. Probably the only real accomplishment of his administration (aside from making practically all of Alaska a national park) was the brokering of an agreement between Israel and Egypt which led to the return of the Sinai to Egypt and diplomatic recognition for Israel by Egypt, the first instance of such recognition in the Arab world.
______The Israeli-Egyptian treaty was based on an understanding that while Egypt would get the whole of the Sinai back it would also have to comply with certain troop levels in newly-designated areas known as Zones A, B and C. Israel, for its part, would have similar troop restrictions in Zone D, along its side of the border. With neither side able to stage their forces near the common border security could be had by both. To monitor and enforce compliance an international military force would be created.
______As originally conceived this international unit was supposed to be a United Nations peacekeeping force. However, by this time the U.N. was settling into its role of being an aggressively useless and corrupt body and in 1981 announced that it would not be able to sanction such a body... apparently the U.N. was determined to be neutral on the side of other hostile Arab states. So the Multinational Force and Observers Mission was created.
______The MFO has at its core a U.S. infantry battalion and a support battalion. Other nations contributing forces include Australia, Canada, Colombia, Fiji, France, Hungary, Italy, New Zealand, Norway and Uruguay. The U.S. infantry battalion used to be rotated from the 82nd Airborne Division but due to the needs of the War on Terror the units are now drawn from U.S. Army Reserve and/or the National Guard.
______The soldiers of the MFO man observation posts, checkpoints and conduct routine patrols in the Zones. They operate out of two base camps, one in the north (near Gaza) and one in the south (near Taba). The headquarters for the MFO is safely tucked away in Rome, which I suppose makes it far enough from the potential action to be "objective." In addition, the organization maintains offices in Cairo and Tel Aviv.
______The soldiers are a familiar sight in the peninsula. Wearing orange (yes, I said orange) berets sporting an MFO badge (a bizarre impressionist image of a dove and an olive branch, or perhaps a crudely-drawn version of the Bat Signal, depending on how your eyesight is) the soldiers and civilians have managed to keep the peace for over twenty years. This, in contrast to the success rate of other U.N. peacekeeping missions over the years.

WHAT WAS THE LOST ARMY OF CAMBYSES?