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Breached Gaza Border Shakes Middle East
by
findingDulcinea Staff
The Israeli blockade on Gaza inspired Hamas to breach the border with Egypt. Attempts to stop the flow of Palestinians have met with resistance.
30-Second Summary
In Asia Times Online, Syrian political analyst Sami Moubayed compared the Israeli blockade with the British government’s crackdown on the original 13 American colonies.
Moubayed’s article, titled “The Gaza 'Tea Party,'" argued that even in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt—which normally toe the U.S. line in the region—support for American policy is dwindling as the situation in Gaza worsens.
However, Barry Rubin, at The Jerusalem Post, writes that backing for Israel in the West is on the rise.
In Rubin’s eyes, Hamas has little in common with the American revolutionaries. He summarizes the sentiments of a militant meeting in Gaza as he envisions it: “We’ll wage war on our stronger neighbor, Israel, and lose; destroy our economy; make our people suffer; ensure international sanctions continue against us, and alienate almost all Arab regimes.”
The current crisis in the Gaza Strip, which prompted Hamas militants to destroy the barrier on the Egyptian border on Jan. 22, sent thousands of Gazans storming into Egypt to load up on supplies.
An article in Der Spiegel states that the humanitarian crisis may be a “blessing in disguise for Israel.” The German newsmagazine quotes an Israeli official: “Cairo now has to solve the humanitarian problem that we have been dealing with until now.”
The Washington Post in a Jan. 24 staff editorial wrote that the Egyptian government should be doing its part to ensure law and stability prevail in the region. “Egypt’s obligation as a law-abiding state is to restore order on the border and prevent the ongoing and massive smuggling of armaments into Gaza. That would go a long way toward stopping the rockets.”
Moubayed’s article, titled “The Gaza 'Tea Party,'" argued that even in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt—which normally toe the U.S. line in the region—support for American policy is dwindling as the situation in Gaza worsens.
However, Barry Rubin, at The Jerusalem Post, writes that backing for Israel in the West is on the rise.
In Rubin’s eyes, Hamas has little in common with the American revolutionaries. He summarizes the sentiments of a militant meeting in Gaza as he envisions it: “We’ll wage war on our stronger neighbor, Israel, and lose; destroy our economy; make our people suffer; ensure international sanctions continue against us, and alienate almost all Arab regimes.”
The current crisis in the Gaza Strip, which prompted Hamas militants to destroy the barrier on the Egyptian border on Jan. 22, sent thousands of Gazans storming into Egypt to load up on supplies.
An article in Der Spiegel states that the humanitarian crisis may be a “blessing in disguise for Israel.” The German newsmagazine quotes an Israeli official: “Cairo now has to solve the humanitarian problem that we have been dealing with until now.”
The Washington Post in a Jan. 24 staff editorial wrote that the Egyptian government should be doing its part to ensure law and stability prevail in the region. “Egypt’s obligation as a law-abiding state is to restore order on the border and prevent the ongoing and massive smuggling of armaments into Gaza. That would go a long way toward stopping the rockets.”
Headline Link: ‘The Gaza “Tea Party”’
In Asia Times Online, Syrian political analyst Sami Moubayed likens Israeli policy toward Hamas, the military group that has been in the Gaza strip since June 2007, to that of Britain toward the American colonies during the era of the Boston Tea Party. “The harshness to what was done in Massachusetts was too outrageous, and forced moderates either to mute their moderation, or transform into radicals,” Moubayed writes.
Source: Asia Times Online
Background: A timeline of the 2008 Hamas-Israeli conflict
Tensions between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip flared on Jan. 15, when Israeli troops launched a raid on a home in the eastern suburbs of Gaza City that was a suspected launch pad for rockets fired at Israel. According to the BBC, 18 Palestinians, including 13 militants, were killed in the skirmish. On Jan. 18, Israel closed off all its border crossings to the Strip, hampering humanitarian aid. The city was in darkness on the 20th, because of what Palestinian sources called a “fuel shortage” but what Israeli Defense Ministry spokesperson Shlomo Dror termed a move to “to create the impression of a fuel crisis.” Hamas militants then pulled down parts of the border to Egypt on the 22nd, resulting in thousands of Palestinians heading over the border for supplies.
Source: findingDulcinea
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas got European and Arab support on Jan. 28 for his plan to deploy Western-trained Palestinian forces alongside EU monitors at the border with Egypt. The EU pulled out its forces when Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in June. Sami Abu-Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, called Abbas' plan, which would prevent Hamas from having control over the border, an “Israeli-led international conspiracy.”
Source: Reuters
Key Players: Hamas
The Council on Foreign Relations calls Hamas “the largest and most influential Palestinian militant movement.” The group took control of the Palestinian Authority’s legislature during elections in January 2006, beating Fatah, the party of PA President Mahmoud Abbas. The group runs both social welfare activities and a terrorist bombing section. When Hamas came to power, Israel imposed economic sanctions on the Gaza Strip because of the group's continued refusal to recognize the Israeli state.
Source: Council on Foreign Relations
Hamas means "zeal" in Arabic. It is also an acronym for the group's full name in Arabic, "Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya," the Islamic Resistance Movement. The group was founded in 1987 during the first Intifada. In its charter, drafted in 1988, Hamas terms the struggle for Palestine “a religious obligation, saying the land is an endowment that cannot be abandoned,” according to The New York Times.
Source: The New York Times
Opinion & Analysis: The blockade
Barry Rubin, editor of the Middle East Review in International Affairs, characterizes an imaginary Hamas meeting: “Ok, here’s the plan. We’ll wage war on our stronger neighbor, Israel, and lose; destroy our economy; make our people suffer; ensure international sanctions continue against us, and alienate almost all Arab regimes. Then, when things can’t seem to get any worse, we’ll turn out all the lights and get international sympathy.” Rubin continues to argue that American support for Israel remains strong and is rising in Western European countries, namely Italy and France.
Source: The Jerusalem Post
A Washington Post editorial says that Hamas has the “ability to disrupt any movement toward peace between Israelis and Palestinians.” The paper also said the onus lies on other Arab leaders, such as Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, to adhere to the rule of law. “Egypt’s obligation as a law-abiding state is to restore order on the border and prevent the ongoing and massive smuggling of armaments into Gaza. That would go a long way toward stopping the rockets,” writes the Post.
Source: The Washington Post
Pierre Heumann, a guest writer for German magazine Der Spiegel, says that the outpouring of Gaza refugees into Egypt may be a “blessing in disguise” for Israel. It relieves Israel of at least some responsibility for the territory. He quotes an Israeli government official who said, “Cairo now has to solve the humanitarian problem that we have been dealing with until now.”
Source: Der Spiegel
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