Soccer Dad: Between rafah and hamas

January 27, 2008

Between rafah and hamas

Gazan masses foil attempt to seal off Rafah border

Some Egyptians were also worried that Israel would exploit the situation to try to "drag" Egypt back into the Gaza Strip.

Husam Sweilem, a retired Egyptian army general, voiced concern that Israel was planning to push Egypt to annex the Strip and to hand the West Bank over to Jordanian control, thus "ending the dream of establishing a Palestinian state."

In Ramallah, Palestinian Authority officials said Hamas was using the crisis to extract concessions from the Egyptians on the issue of the Rafah border crossing. The officials expressed "disappointment" over Mubarak's call for unconditional talks between Fatah and Hamas.

Of course, President Mubarak has the solution to the chaos:

Mubarak proposed in a newspaper interview that representatives of the two movements come to Cairo for talks. "I want this language of violence to stop," Mubarak was quoted as saying. "Peace could be achieved on the basis of international resolutions and agreements that demand the establishment of a Palestinian state."

In case he hasn't been paying attention, Gaza is the Palestinian state for now. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, in accordance with "international law". And it hasn't led to greater peace or stability.

Mubarak is pushing for reconciliation between "moderate" Fatah and the terrorist Hamas organization. A Blog for All thinks that this proposal is Egypt's way of becoming relevant again.

As I've predicted in the past, Egypt is now trying to push its own diplomatic efforts after watching the Saudis proffer their own last week. They want to mediate between Hamas and Fatah. The Palestinian civil war continues to simmer as both sides are unwilling and incapable of conceding on basic issues.

From its side Egypt hasn't shut down the border leading to increased commerce.

You will also note that the Egyptians did not succeed in shutting down the border at 3:00 yesterday like they said they would. In fact, they still haven't shut it down. Rafah has become one massive shopping mall in which the supposedly 'penniless' 'Palestinians' look for bargains, just like Massachusetts residents do in New Hampshire and Illinois residents in Wisconsin.... Well... sort of....

The Weekly Standard explains Egypt's fears in detail:

The breakdown of the Gaza border also exposes the rift between the moderate government in Cairo and the Palestinians. While Arab governments delight in Palestinian attacks on Israel, they are wary of the violence spilling over. The Kuwaitis despise the Palestinians for backing Saddam Hussein during the invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Palestinians wore out their welcome in Baghdad after some were connected to terror attacks following the U.S. invasion in 2003. And the Palestinians in Lebanon are treated like third class citizens, unable to hold jobs outside the refugee camps. The Fatah al Islam uprising in the Nahr al Bared camp in northern Lebanon claimed the lives of 122 Lebanese troops while the Ein al Hilwah camp is essentially a no-go area for government forces.

And Israelly Cool! continues to liveblog the whole thing.

Crossposted on Yourish.

gaza, hamas, egypt.