Palestinians are being detained from entering Gaza by Egyptian authorities and rioted according to this report from the Jerusalem Post:
Dozens of anti-riot police with batons and shields stormed the el-Arish airport and clashed with rioters, injuring two of them, said one of the rioters, Muhammad Ali. A police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that more troops have been deployed to the airport after Tuesday's clashes, fearing more riots and violence.
The Palestinians, who do not have entry visas for Egypt, were transferred under security supervision to el-Arish airport after first arriving at the Cairo airport from trips abroad. They had expected to then travel onward to the Gaza Strip, but they have been stuck in the el-Arish airport since Egypt sealed off its border with Gaza after the Hamas takeover last month.
Whatever was the Egyptian government thinking in deliberately refusing to allow these people to return to their homes in the Gaza Strip? According to this report the rationale was if Egypt detained enough Gazians from returning to the Strip it will pressure Hamas into making nice and kiss up to Fatah:
Egypt has said it is ruling out opening the border anytime soon, the official MENA news agency reported, a move intended to put pressure on Hamas to resolve its current conflict with Fatah. Egyptian officials are worried a Hamas-ruled Gaza on its borders could bolster Egypt's own banned Islamic opposition, the Muslim Brotherhood, and spawn terror attacks.
I am not sure I really follow the logic here. Presumably these people know they are going back into a Hamas run Palestinian Authority. Presumably, these people are from the area and probably have grown-up surrounded by Hamas run organizations so Hamas rule holds no surprises. You have to stop and ask yourself why the Egyptian government allegedly knows what’s best for them? Then a piece in the puzzle fell into place from this Arutz Sheva report:
(IsraelNN.com) The closure of the Rafiah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt was allegedly carried out at the request of Fatah Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, according to a PA source quoted by Haaretz.
The Rafiah Crossing was closed by Egypt in the wake of Hamas's successful coup against Fatah in Gaza, during which hundreds of Gazan Fatah supporters fled south to Egypt. Abbas reportedly asked Israel and Egypt to seal off the border at Rafiah after the Hamas terror organization took over Gaza in order to prevent infiltration of more Islamic terrorists from Egypt.
According to media reports, Abbas had also asked that the request not be made public. Chief PA negotiator Saeb Erekat denied the report soon after it was published Wednesday, saying the PA had requested several times that the Rafiah Crossing be opened since its closure last month.
The PA Chairman was reportedly also concerned that thousands of Hamas supporters would also flood into Gaza, thus weakening what little power Fatah had in the region. Gaza is now completely under Hamas control, as is the Rafiah border crossing on the Gaza side.
Thousands of Gaza residents were stuck on the Egyptian side of the border when the crossing was closed and have remained there since, due to Hamas’s refusal to allow them to return to Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing, located on the pre-1967 side of Israel. Both Egypt and Israel recommended that the Gaza residents return to their homes via Kerem Shalom. Reportedly Abbas made the same suggestion. Hamas demanded the right to bring merchandise into Gaza solely through the Rafiah crossing.
I fail to understand why it is in anyone’s best interest to prop up the dictatorship of an alleged moderator terrorist. I fail to comprehend why everyone thinks its just hunky dory to continue to play these games using the misery and suffering of the others to score political brownie points.
And if Hamas wants to make a go of the Gaza Strip - so what, and why not let them have a shot at it? It’s not like Fatah was doing such a stellar job. The sooner the Palestinians take control of their own destiny in the Gaza Strip the better for everyone - including the Israelis. The Israelis have left and until such time that the threat from the Gaza Strip is greater than the cost of reoccupying the strip - the Israelis are not coming back.
If the Israeli leadership was really smart it would doing everything within its sphere of influence to help Hamas establish a viable independent state next door rather than sucking up to Abbas and hoeing the Bush Administrations political line. Now that would be real geopolitics which might just get the last Jew out of Gaza.
1 comment:
If Hamas wante a state in Gaza, they could have one. All they have to do is declare it.
The real reason all these poor, innocent palis are stranded in Egypt is to turn up pressure on Israel to reopen the Karni crossing.
As usual in Arab power politics, the palestinians are caught in the crossfire with Israel. And no one really cares.
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