Crisis in Gaza

[tomahawk6]

Hamas has knocked down the wall seperating Gaza from Egypt and have flooded into Egypt at first unopposed. Once Israel stated that power/water that they supply to Gaza would now be an Egyptian responsibility, then the Egyptians moved in border police to try and restore the border fence. Unfortunately Hamas fighters are now occupying the northern Sinai. The US has ordered a partial pullout of the MFO near Al Arish and is considering to withdraw the rest of the 400 man force or improve security. Egypt doesnt want to fight the Palestinians but they well be forced to or pull back from the Sinai entirely which would then pose a security threat to the Suez Canal.I see this as a new flash point in the war on terror.

Egyptian border guards and riot police officers clash with Palestinians trying to cross the border after militants exploded the border wall between Gaza Strip and Egypt earlier this week, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, 25 January 2008

 

[tomahawk6]

The security situation continues to deteriorate.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1201070794546&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Hiking trails and tourist spots near the Israel-Egypt border were closed until further notice late Friday night following the infiltration of hundreds of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip into Sinai earlier in the evening.

he decision, which followed an earlier one to close Route 10 along the border, was made by the defense establishment in an effort to bolster security along the border with Egypt and specifically, to prevent potential terrorists from seeping into the area.

Areas closed off to the Israeli public include: Holot Agur, Be'er Milcha, Be'erotayim, Azuz, Har Harif, Borot Lutz, Nahal Akrub, Nahal Aylot, Har Ramon, Arud Path, Har Sagie, Har Karhoum, Sha'ar Tznifim, Har Eilat, Ein Netifim, Nahal Tzfahot, Nahal Shlomo, Nahal Yehoshafat, Nahal Gershon, Nahal Shani and the Red Canyon. The IDF has requested that the public steer clear of the closed areas for the next few days.

On Friday evening, Egyptian guards were unable to stop hundreds of Palestinians from rushing into Egypt after a bulldozer wrecked another section of fence along the frontier.

The border was initially breached Wednesday, when Palestinians blew down large sections of the border wall. Since then, Egypt has allowed tens of thousands of Palestinians to go back and forth, but has rejected any suggestion of assuming responsibility for the territory.

On Thursday the government's anti-terror council warned Israelis traveling in the Sinai Peninsula, defining the threat level to Israeli tourists there as "a concrete and very high threat." Israelis were advised to return to Israel immediately.

 

[DBA]

The Volokh Conspiracy, Gaza and Egypt:

Gaza and Egypt: Sixty years ago, when Egypt occupied Gaza, it refused to grant the local Arab residents, native Gazans and refugees from the Arab-Israeli war of 1947-48, citizenship. Instead, the Egyptian government intentionally cut them off from Egypt and kept them impoverished, so they could be used as a propaganda and military weapon against Israel. When Israel took over Gaza in 1967, it opened the border with Israel, providing tens of thousands of jobs for Gazans, and increasing the standard of living there dramatically, albeit from very low levels. After a wave of suicide attacks from Gaza, Israel gradually closed off the border with Israel, and finally closed it off entirely when Hamas took over last year. Meanwhile, Israel no longer occupies Gaza, and the population has sunken back into abject poverty.

With the Gazan's breach of the border with Egypt, and Egypt's refusal to use force to seal the border, things have come full circle. It's time to ask why Egypt, with 80 million people, can't grant Gaza's one million full Egyptian citizenship, and allow them to live in Sinai or even Cairo instead of being stuck in Gaza.

No matter what happens in the near future between the Palestinians and Israel, I doubt Israel will ever allow the reasonably free movement between Gaza and Israel that existed through the early 1990s. Giving the Gazans Egyptian citizenship, and making Egypt responsible for security in the area, would benefit Israel, the Gazans, and even Egypt itself, by destroying Hamas's base (Hamas being affiliated with Egypt's anti-government Muslim Brotherhood). It would also benefit the Palestinians in the West Bank, by allowing the more moderate residents there to reach an accommodation with Israel, perhaps in concert with Jordan.

If Israeli leaders had any p.r. sense and/or vision, they would use this opportunity to loudly ask why Egypt, which refused custody of Gaza when Israel returned the Sinai, is so adamant about refusing to do its part to relieve Palestinian suffering.