Egypt Opens Border with Gaza
Via the AP: After 4 years, Egypt reopens its border with Gaza
Egypt lifted a 4-year-old blockade of the Gaza Strip on Saturday, greatly easing travel restrictions on the 1.5 million residents of the Palestinian territory in a move that bolstered the Hamas government while dealing a setback to Israel’s attempts to isolate the militant group.
[…]
Saturday’s expansion of the Rafah crossing was a tangible benefit of the popular unrest sweeping through the Arab world. The blockade, which has fueled an economic crisis in Gaza, is deeply unpopular among Arabs, and Egypt’s caretaker leaders had promised to end it since the ouster of longtime President Hosni Mubarak in February.
Israel and Egypt imposed the blockade after the Islamic militant Hamas seized control of Gaza in June 2007. The closure aimed to weaken Hamas. But the Iranian-backed group remains firmly in power, operating the border crossing even at a time when it is supposed to be reconciling with the rival Fatah movement.
Until Saturday, the Rafah border terminal had functioned at a limited capacity. Only certain classes of people, such as students, businessmen or medical patients, were eligible to travel and the crossing was often subject to closures, leading to huge backlogs that forced people to wait for months.
[…]
Israel, which controls Gaza’s cargo crossings, allows most consumer goods into Gaza, but still restricts exports as well as the entry of much-needed construction materials, saying they could be used by militants. Israel also enforces a naval blockade aimed at weapons smuggling.
Israeli and American officials have expressed concerns that Hamas will exploit the opening to bring weapons and fighters into Gaza. In January 2008, masked militants blew open the Rafah border wall, allowing thousands of people to pour in and out of Egypt.
One expects that this will set off another round of histrionics regarding Israel here in the US.
However, I have to wonder as to the degree which treating Gaza like a large refugee camp is actually in Israel’s long-term interest. It seems to me that the best way to stoke the fire of radicalism is to be seen as outside oppressors who are actively working to curtail normal life. Yes, I understand the logic of putting the squeeze on Hamas, but one has to admit that so doing has a large impact on a rather large number of people. If the goal is to stop Palestinian aggression, there is at least the possibility to consider that maybe allowing Gaza to develop is in Israel’s long-term interests.
Yes, it does seem like the Israeli right includes some of the stupidest people on earth. Hey, lets turn Gaza into a virtual concentration camp – that’ll get the natives there to turn against their own leaders and be less hostile to us!!!
After all, whenever the Palestinians make us suffer, our instinct is to reject our extremists and do all we can to be nice to the Palestinians….
This will make life a lot easier for Hamas. Now they won’t have to use tunnels to smuggle in mortar shells and rockets.
God knows we don’t have any weapons. What kind of animals are these?
What kind of animals set up mortars and rockets in school yards? What kind of animals launches poorly aimed rockets and fire mortars into civilian population with little concern where they land as long as they hit something. Muslims animals
Now Hamas can ship these weapons overland and kill more Jews. Would that make you happy to have fewer Jews in this world?
Read more: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2011/05/26/2031601/palestinian-ploy-would-push-israel.html#ixzz1Nq8SPbjo
67,000 AK-47 rounds can kill a lot of Palestinians that disagree with Hamas.