Palestinians cross into Egypt

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"Palestinians have breached the border fence with Egypt in several places and hundreds have crossed the frontier prompting Egyptian border guards to open fire, said officials and witnesses on both sides of the border.

An Egyptian security official said there were at least five breaches along the 9 mile (14 kilometer) border and hundreds of Palestian residents were pouring in.

At least 300 Egyptian border guards have been rushed to the area to reseal the border, the official added on condition on anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

A resident of the Gaza Strip side of the border, Fida Kishta, said that Egyptian border guards opened fire to drive back the Palestinians. Residents have also commandeered a bulldozer to open new breaches.

Palestinians reported several people were wounded by the gunfire."

more

[tekisui]

1. Israel bombs 40 tunnels along Gaza-Egyptian border

JERUSALEM, Dec 28 (Reuters) - The Israeli army said on Sunday it bombed more than 40 tunnels linking the blockaded Gaza Strip with Egypt's Sinai desert.

"The air force just attacked over 40 tunnels found on the Gaza side of the border. Those tunnels, we believe, were used for smuggling weapons, explosives and sometimes people," an army spokeswoman told reporters.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LS322607.htm

[GoesTo11]

2. How many innocent Gazans were killed in those tunnels?

"My son was just leaving classes on philosophy at university and coming home through the tunnel when an Israeli bomb hit and caused a rocket launcher to go off and my poor son was killed by the backfire. Those murderers!"

[Vegasaurus]

3. I thought all Arabs felt sympathy for the Palestinians

why are they shooting at them and rushing to reseal the border?

You'd think all this outcrying of hysteria and rallies and support from Arabs around the world, toward their Palestinian brethren would mean that the Egyptians would welcome them from that Gaza cesspool in a heartbeat.

:shrug:

[Statistical]

4. Because the Arab powers NEVER cared about the Palestinians

Until people understand and accept that concept they will never understand the true situation.

EGYPT controlled Gaza from 1949 to 1963. It was totally under Egyptian control. Egyptian military. Egyptian police. Gazans used Egyptian currency. It was only after the 6 day war when Egypt used Gaza strip as a launching point for the invasion of Israel occupied Gaza. Israel also occupied the Sinai Peninsula for a time but that was returned to Egypt.

Durring the 14 years that Egypt controlled Gaza they treated the Palestinians like lower class of humans. Palestinians were prohibited from traveling to Egypt proper. They were prohibited from attending schools in Egypt. Egypt could have made or offered Egyptian citizenship. Egypt could have sent Egyptian settlers into Gaza. Egypt could have invested in infrastructure, banking, commerce, build factories for employment. Egypt did NONE of that.

They considered the Palestinians disposable fodder. They helped to raise the militants into power. They supplied them with weapons, ammo, explosives and money. They crushed assisted the militants in crushing any pro-peace or unified Israel Palestinians groups.

The Egyptians LOVE the status quo. The "plight" of Palestinians? Egypt has worked to ensure the status remains the same. They seal the border but allow weapons, explosives to enter the region. They offer no electricity or water links. They have prevented legal trade/commerce but allow smuggling because that is controlled by Hamas and a source of revenue.

To Egypt Gaza is the perfect thorn in Israel side. No egyptian or true Arab ever dies. Jews are regularly killed and the only cost is small amount of money & weapons. Sure lots of Palestinians die but they honestly do not care.

[Ghost Dog]

5. Good points,

if by 'Egyptians' you mean the authoritarian Egyptian government, I guess.

Isn't there an Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty or other agreement that includes them closing that frontier?

[Statistical]

6. Yes let me clarify

In this context Eqypt would be Egyptian Government.
Arab Powers would be current Arab State Governments.

No doubt there are millions of Arab who are genuinely concerned about the plight of Palestinians.
The current ruling class wants to keep the status quo. Palestinians remaining in lifetime cycle of violence is part of that status quo.

Ironically the 1979 treaty does have stipulations about the Gaza-Eqypt border. It requires Egypt to control it's border to prevent flow of smuggling, weapons, and extremist. Over the last 3 decades the ONLY thing flowing through the Egypt-Gaza border has been smuggling (souce of income for Hamas), weapons and extremist.

Nothing in 1979 treaty prevents Egypt from conducting legitimate trade, or allowing high education visas, building water or electricity links.

It is a CHOICE. Egypt (once again the government) has chosen to keep Palestinians is a state of suffering and to empower Hamas and other radicals because it achieves goals of Egyptian government.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

7. Egyptians as well as their government that treat the Palestinians as disposable tools

The control of the Rafah crossing is discussed here: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RL34346.pdf