That “spontaneous” response to Israel cracking down on terrorists in Gaza? Not so much.
Hamas has used the border breach – which was carefully planned, with militants weakening the metal wall with blow torches about a month ago – to push its demand for reopening the border passages, this time with Hamas involvement. Such an arrangement would in effect end the international sanctions against the Islamic militants.
Ynet has more:
Meanwhile, The Times quoted a Hamas border guard as saying that the Islamist group had been involved for months in slicing through the heavy metal wall along the Philadelphi Route using oxy-acetylene cutting torches.
“I’ve seen this happening over the last few months. It happened in the daytime but was covered up so that nobody would see,” he told the London-based newspaper as saying.
The Philadelphi Route was supposed to be controlled by Egypt. Israel is using the border breach to say that Egypt should take Gaza back.
Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai said Israel wants to relinquish all responsibility for Gaza, including the supply of electricity and water, now that Gaza’s southern border with Egypt has been opened.
Egypt immediately rejected the idea.
Egypt says NFW. Big surprise.
A top Egyptian official responded by saying Egypt’s border with Gaza will go back to normal, and strongly rejected Israel’s suggestion that it might relinquish all responsibility for troubled Gaza.
“This is a wrong assumption,” said Hossam Zaki, the official spokesman for Egypt’s foreign ministry. “The current situation is only an exception and for temporary reasons,” Zaki said. “The border will go back to normal.”
In other words, the Egyptian guards will continue to turn a blind eye to all the weapons smuggling, and this will play out all over again at a later date.
Hamas won this one, big-time.
Way to go! Now the world can see what it should have known all along — the Gazans have two borders: one with Israel, which whom they’re at war, and another with Egypt, to whom they’ve belonged all along.
What next? Draw down all supply links on an announced, reasonable schedule, and if Egypt doesn’t take up the slack, tough luck.
Problem remaining? Egypt may eventually send in troops and suppress any “Palestinian” government, just as they did when they were the sole ruling power there. BUT the Gazans will continue to rocket Israel. SO when Israel retaliates, it will be war … with Egypt.
Then Peres really will have to return his Nobel Piece Price.
However, it’s looking more and more as if the real big deal is not what Egypt will do to Gaza, but what Gaza will do to Egypt. Although they get aid from Iran now, Hamas was not set up by the Iranians, as Hizballah was.
Hamas is an offshoot of that same Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood that gave rise to Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden’s buddy. Once they get enough of their own people moved into the Egyptian side of Rafah, they will establish tight coordination with the Muslim Brotherhood, and go into high gear destabilizing Egypt.
Egypt is already very unstable. All those US arms are going to be in Hamas hands: tanks, planes, bombs. The next war between Israel and Egypt will be a war with a radical Islamist republic.
We will see if anyone in Washington at the time — it will come during the next administration — has the sense to understand that American troops better be moving in to collect all the toys we gave Mubarak … before he was assassinated.