For the first time in three decades, Israel decided to allow Egypt to station troops in the Sinai peninsula that divides their countries, and has begun telling their world partners to tone down the rhetoric against Mubarak.

With street protests threatening the Egyptian regime, officials say that Israel allowed the Egyptian army to move two battalions - about 800 soldiers - into Sinai on January 30. The officials said the troops were based in the Sharm el-Sheikh area on Sinai's southern tip, far from Israel, AP reported.

Under the 1979 peace treaty, Israel returned the captured Sinai to Egypt. In return, Egypt agreed to leave the area, which borders southern Israel, demilitarized. The arid peninsula lies between Egypt's mainland and Israel, and Israel was worried about an Egyptian invasion then.