Posted on 01/26/2008 11:38:59 AM PST by ECM
The head of the security-political task force at the Defense Ministry, Amos Gilad, demanded over the weekend that Egypt restore order in Rafah, where thousands of Palestinians have been crossing into Egypt from the Gaza border town through a ruptured barrier since Wednesday.
**SNIP**
On Saturday, Hamas made an offer to Egypt to restore the Gaza Strip's ruptured border through direct diplomacy with Cairo, challenging a plan by rival Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to assume control.
Egypt is under pressure to seal the Gaza-Egypt border, breached early Wednesday, but is reluctant to be seen as shoring up a 7-month-old blockade imposed on Gaza in order to cripple its Hamas rulers while Abbas seeks peace with Israel.
"We are offering an alternative, which is the operation of Rafah crossing, and we are ready to coordinate this with the Egyptian government," senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told reporters, referring to a key terminal at a frontier town.
"The situation at the Rafah border is temporary and exceptional," he added.
A Hamas source said free movement across Rafah "is expected to last as long as it takes for an understanding to be reached between Hamas and the Egyptian government over the re-operation".
(Excerpt) Read more at haaretz.com ...
Found this one on Frongpagemag.com
Israel Puts Gaza Onus on Egypt
By: Washington Times
More>
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080125/FOREIGN/287783631/1001
Palestinians are the skunks of the arab world. Egypt knows this and knows full well it cannot afford not to seal the border with Gaza soon, despite all their BS bluster about their Palestinian brothers.
Israel should, by all means, start preparing to shut the border itself, but I’d bet the problem will resolve itself before they can strike.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.