Posted on 05/25/2011 4:12:08 PM PDT by Pan_Yan
(RTTNews) - In a major policy shift, Egypt's interim government has decided to permanently open the country's border crossing into Gaza from Saturday as part of efforts to end Palestinian division and ensure reconciliation, the official Mena news agency said on Wednesday.
The coastal enclave has been under an Israeli-enforced blockade since 2007 after ultra-conservative Hamas won the elections there.
According to Mena, Rafah crossing will be opened permanently from 0900 am to 0900 pm local time on all days except Fridays and holidays, beginning May 27."Palestinian women of all ages will be exempted from visas as will men under 18 or over 40," the dispatch said.
Earlier the ousted regime of President Hosni Mubarak had helped Israel impose the blockade as Cairo too opposed the Hamas-led government. Israeli authorities had justified the blockade on the grounds that it was necessary to stop weapons being smuggled into Gaza.
Incidentally, the Rafah crossing is the only land border into Gaza circumventing Israel.
In April, Egypt's transitional government said it intended to open the Rafah border permanently. However, the move is likely to raise concerns in Israel. The Jewish state had relaxed curbs on movement of goods into Gaza last year even though there are still significant shortages.
Rights groups had slammed the blockade as a collective punishment of the Gaza population on account of the hardships encountered by ordinary citizens. Last year, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said the blockade was a clear violation of international humanitarian law.
Cairo had recently managed to broker a reconciliation deal between Hamas and Fatah. The militant Hamas runs Gaza while the Fatah Party led by President Mahmoud Abbas controls the West Bank.
This will become the Ho Chi Minh trail of wepons into Gaza.
That’s great news.
Now Bibi can blow them right out of there and close the border behind them.
Bush gave them.
Egypt has bio and chemical weapons.
Will the military let these fall into the hands of Hamas?
I have foreseen that there will be a serious war in the Mideast as the muslim countries unite against Israel.
WHEN is the question.
Will the gate be completely open, or will there be a TNT limit? If the latter, will it be 100 lbs, 500 lbs, or one truckload per border crosser?
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
..................
After all these years of whining about the Israeli blockade, you mean Egypt had a border with their brother Arabs too? Israel's fault, all of it.
I can only hope and pray that Israel knows when to use the big stick to get the attention of anybody attacking them. The big stick is the same one that Truman had to use on Japan.
Sadly the Arab’s are dumb as a rock and will force Israel to do what ever they have to do to survive.
G-D BLESS ISRAEL. We all know they will weigh this decision carefully.
- FrontPage Magazine - http://frontpagemag.com -
Egypt Comes Out for Hamas
Posted By Robert Spencer On May 26, 2011 @ 12:50 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | 11 Comments
In one of the clearest signs yet that the “Arab Spring” in post-Mubarak Egypt heralds a resurgent Islamic supremacism rather than a flowering of Western-style pluralism and democracy, Egyptian officials announced Wednesday that they were reopening the Rafah crossing this Saturday.
The Rafah crossing is the only official point of entry into Gaza other than from inside Israel. Egypt closed it for good in 2007 after Hamas took power in Gaza, as part of its uneasy observance of the Camp David Accords maintaining peace with Israel. The Rafah crossing had been an easy route into Israel for jihadis and their weapons suppliers who, for obvious reasons, wanted to avoid Israeli scrutiny.............
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.