Region | Palestinian Territories
Palestine exodus pins Cairo in a diplomatic tight spot
The Islamist movement Hamas blew a hole in the Egyptian government's policy on the border with the Gaza Strip when it knocked down the border wall and let tens of thousands of Palestinians pour into Egypt.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:04 January 25, 2008
- Palestinians pass through the destroyed border wall into Egypt near the Rafah border crossing, to stock up on goods which had become scarce in Gaza.
- Image Credit: Reuters
Cairo: The Islamist movement Hamas blew a hole in the Egyptian government's policy on the border with the Gaza Strip when it knocked down the border wall and let tens of thousands of Palestinians pour into Egypt.
The Egyptian government cannot now restore the status quo on the border without some concessions to the Hamas demand for an open crossing point, free of Israeli supervision, analysts say.
Since Hamas took control of Gaza in June, Egypt has cooperated with the US and Israeli policy of sealing off the strip of Palestinian territory, in an attempt to turn the population against the Islamists.
But the policy has inspired widespread disgust in the Egyptian people, who see the government as doing Israel's dirty work against the Palestinians.
Israel raised the stakes on Thursday by advocating disengagement from Gaza, which would throw all the problems on Egyptian shoulders. Egypt would strongly resist such a move for economic and security reasons.
For the moment, Egyptian security forces have stood aside as Palestinians go shopping in the towns of northern Sinai, stocking up on goods which had become scarce in Gaza.
"The view of the Egyptian government is that there is no way they were going to fire at Palestinian civilians crossing the border. Besides, the police were simply overwhelmed," said a senior diplomat who specialises in Israeli-Palestinian affairs.
So far the Egyptian government has given few clues to its intentions. President Mubarak said the Palestinians could come and buy food, provided they go home and do not bear arms.
No disengagement
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry has proposed that Egypt, Israel and the Palestinian Authority take a new look at how to reactivate the border agreement they reached when Israel withdrew from the strip in 2005.
A ministry spokesman said yesterday that Egypt would have no comment on disengagement, suggested by Israeli Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai.
Egypt is sympathetic to a proposal that the Palestinian Authority take charge of the Gaza side of the border, possibly cutting Israel out of the equation. The authority is based in the West Bank, has no control over Gaza and is dominated by Fatah, Hamas's Palestinian rival.
"Hamas has managed to impose a new situation and remind Egypt that it can't seal the border indefinitely and hope the problem will just go away," added Ezzedin Choukri, the director of the Arab-Israeli project at the International Crisis Group.
If Israel, with or without Egyptian help, squeezes Gaza too hard again, Hamas can arrange another exodus into Egypt, with impunity and with international sympathy, analysts said.
Some commentators outside the Middle East said the collapse of the Gaza border meant a complete break with past policy.
"Who can reimpose order on the Gaza-Egypt situation? Israel? I doubt it. Egypt? Very risky. Fatah without coordinating with Hamas? Impossible. A hastily assembled Nato peacekeeping force? Forget it," wrote Helena Cobban, a writer who travels in the region and meets top leaders.
"This is Hamas's bid to become included in the decision-making. I don't see any resolution to the present situation without Hamas being a party," she added.
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