Gunfire erupted at the Gaza-Egypt border on Monday, following stone-throwing clashes between Egyptian border guards and Palestinians, witnesses said, and one Palestinian was killed. It was the most serious outbreak of violence on the border since Hamas militants blew down the border wall on Jan. 23. Egyptian forces reclosed the border on Sunday.I suspect it wasn’t reported widely in the international press because it would contrast too sharply with the narrative which was widely reported earlier in the day. The Toronto Star carried this Associated Press account.
One Palestinian was killed and several dozen people were hurt, including eight who suffered gunshot wounds.Egyptian forces fired live bullets at the crowd, wounding several, witnesses said. Bullets landed close to an AP staffer on the Gaza side of the border. Later, Palestinian gunmen fired back. It was not immediately clear if the gunmen were from Hamas. Police from Hamas were next to the border at the time.
The tensions began when the Egyptian guards sealed the border hermetically Monday, not even allowing Egyptians and Gazans who had found themselves on the wrong side of the border to return home. Eyewitnesses said anger boiled over in the late afternoon as people on both sides waited for permission to cross over.
Hamas policemen in the area encouraged people in the area to throw rocks at the Egyptians. Youths began pelting an Egyptian command post in the area, and forces there first threw stones back, and then fired tear gas. Medics said 26 people were treated for tear gas inhalation. After the clash, four vehicles with Hamas police drove in to break up the crowd, using sticks to push people away from the border. Monday's firefight erupted around dusk, and occasional gunshots could still be heard after nightfall.
RAFAH, Gaza Strip–Egyptian police sealed Gaza's border with huge metal spikes and shipping containers yesterday, restoring a tight blockade after a breach that allowed hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to cross freely for 12 days.
Gaza's Hamas rulers, meanwhile, demanded new arrangements that would give it a say in border administration. But that looked doubtful with the international community opposed to any role for the Islamic group in running the crossing.
Gaza residents settled back into their dreary closure routine after joyous days of freedom and shopping that flooded the territory with sheep, smoked herring and fuel from Egypt.
"We're back to the same siege and the same problems," said Alaa al-Astal, 33, a security guard at a Gaza university. "At least it (the breach) got me this," he added, proudly pointing to a Chinese-made motorbike he bought in Egypt for $1,000 in hopes of cutting the cost of his work commute in half.Egypt warned Hamas against trying to open the border by force again, as it did on Jan. 23.
The border breach temporarily relieved a seven-month blockade, imposed by Israel and Egypt after Hamas defeated the Fatah-allied forces of western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas for control of the territory in June. The opening briefly boosted the popularity of Hamas, as hundreds of thousands of Gazans rushed to Egypt's border region, stocking up on supplies.
Yesterday, the traffic slowed to a trickle as helmeted Egyptian border guards with plastic shields blocked the remaining border openings, only allowing Gazans and Egyptians who found themselves on the wrong side of the border to return home.
Bearded Hamas police worked in tandem with the Egyptians, trying to keep back dozens of Gazans. It was a marked change from several days ago, when uniformed Hamas men thwarted Egyptian attempts to reseal the border.
Instead, the IDF story which received a fair bit of international play, and even made the Drudge Report for two days running, was this Ynet News account of IDF troops mooning Palestinian farmers in Hebron.
VIDEO - IDF soldiers who arrived at the Maon Farm settlement outpost near the West Bank city of Hebron exposed their rear ends to Palestinians in an attempt to make them evacuate nearby grazing fields, Palestinian sources and foreign peace activists claimed Sunday.
On Sunday, the soldiers were sentenced to 21 days incarceration in a military prison and suspended from operational duty until further notice. Ynet has received exclusive footage of the incident, which took place on January 11.
Imagine if they shot at them using other than rubber bullets – Oy! The Ynet story still has a video link up of the ‘mooning’. Too bad mooning hasn’t made it into the Geneva Convention - thought there is still time. Firing live rounds of ammo at civilians, killing 1 and injuring 'several dozen' others and nay but a whisper. Go figure.
2 comments:
What do you think of this samsonblinded.org/blog/israel-cannot-blockade-gaza.htm ? Shoher is arguably the most right Israeli today, but he argues Israel should talk to Hamas as Egypt will not maintain the blockade of Gaza.
I read Samson Blinded regularly, and probably much like the Israeli government, I play this guessing game trying to figure out who Shoher really is. While I won’t agree with everything Shoher says, I do find him thought provoking.
I have posted, right from the start of the Hamas Gaza Coup; Israel should have opened the dialogue with Hamas. If anything, the Israeli government should have sought to tie Hamas up as a regional government within the Gaza Strip and I agree Gaza cannot be blockaded effectively - recent events have proved that beyond doubt. The consequences are now huge, and Hamas is poised to jump from a ‘localized’ movement to a more ‘international’ one.
Once Hamas has established a firm power structure in the West Bank it will have unique access to another Arab state (Jordan) to destabilize and I do believe Hamas will seek to do just that rather than rule. Most seem to think Hamas would not dare this or that, but if anything, Hamas has proven that it dares, and dares much.
If anything, recent events have proven shown why, the return of the Sinai was ultimately Begin’s folly. I understand why Begin risked it, and at the time when it happened even I thought it was the right thing to do, but ultimately land for peace is a bankrupt foreign policy and only postpones the inevitable.
So where do we go from here? Mubarak is old and frail, his son and designated heir lacks the support his father has, the opposition to Mubarak grows daily. Hamas is uniquely positioned to cause great strife within Egypt and beyond. A weak Egyptian leader is a disaster for Israel and the region.
Eventually I believe events will force either Israel to waive the terms of the Camp David Accord and allow Egypt to militarize the Sinai in order to retake the Gaza Strip which will require a long term military occupation in the Strip and give the Egyptian military a foothold at Israel’s doorstep or Israel steps up and retakes the Strip.
One of the greatest deterrents for Israel’s Arab neighbors was the fact Israel gained land every time she was attacked. Arabs countries stopped calling for the large scale attacks against the Israeli state because of the fear another war had a more than reasonable chance to see Israel in possession of even more land. In recent years that deterrence factor has been chipped away until we come today where there is a growing movement in Egypt for the peace treaty with Israel to be revoked. A weak Egyptian leader could well be enticed to attack Israel given that a significant force will already be at Israel’s door or risk being overthrown for a leader who will not hesitate to launch that attack.
Or Israel retakes the Gaza Strip, and then what? Much more of the same unless Israel will do the unthinkable and attempt to resettle the Gazans in the Sinai but that will require Egyptian cooperation and just why would any Egyptian government agree to that? There is simply no advantage to be gained for Egypt. Then of course, one cannot put aside the fact that the Israelis do empire incredibly badly. I cannot imagine the Israelis electing a government capable of retaking the Gaza Strip and expelling the Arabs there, so I suspect there will come to pass another Israeli administration who will allow the Egyptians to militarize the Sinai, and within ten years time Egypt will launch another attack against Israel.
So what to do? I can only hope the IDF is capable of long term planning and has a battleplan on the table on how to effectively repel the Egyptian out of the Sinai/Gaza Strip while defending Israel’s borders with Syria and Lebanon because it will be the 1973 all over again. And this time, Israel does not have the same men to call to her defense.
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