Egypt's plan to open Gaza border reveals shifts
Under former President Hosni Mubarak, Egypt restricted the
movement of people and goods through the Rafah crossing in keeping
with a blockade it imposed on Gaza along with Israel. The
restrictions were aimed at weakening the Hamas militants who rule
the Gaza Strip, and whom both Egypt and Israel saw, until recently,
as a common enemy.
After Mubarak's ouster in February by a popular uprising,
Egypt's new transitional Cabinet and ruling military council are
taking a cooler line toward Israel and the U.S. Egypt has also been
warming its ties with Israel's enemies, chiefly Hamas and its main
backer, Iran.
Egypt's new foreign minister, Nabil al-Araby, said Thursday that
the closure was about to end, calling the decision to close the
crossing "a disgusting matter" in an interview with the Arab
satellite channel Al-Jazeera.
Al-Araby said the crossing would be opened "in the coming
days."
Israeli officials would not comment publicly Friday, but Israel
is "troubled by recent developments in Egypt," an Israeli
government official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity
because there had been no official comment.
Israel views the Gaza blockade as essential to minimizing the
flow of weaponry and militants into the territory, where
Palestinian squads regularly launch rockets at Israeli towns, and
to pressuring Hamas.
"In the past, despite efforts by the Egyptian government, Hamas
succeeded in building a formidable military machine. If those
efforts were to cease, how much easier would it be for Hamas to
build a terrorist military machine," the official said.
The decision appeared linked to the surprise announcement one
day earlier that the two rival Palestinian factions, Hamas and
Fatah, had signed a reconciliation agreement brokered by Egypt. The
deal is scheduled to be signed on Wednesday in Cairo, Palestinian
Authority spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeneh said Friday. It is to lead the
way to a transitional unity government and elections.
That announcement was also greeted with dismay in Israel, which
said it ruled out any chance of peace talks with a Palestinian
government that includes the Hamas militants. Hamas, which rejects
peace talks and is committed to Israel's destruction, is considered
a terrorist organization by Israel, the U.S., the European Union
and others.
The announcement on the border crossing also appeared to reflect
a responsiveness by Egypt's new military rulers to street sentiment
hostile to Israel and to the U.S. A recent poll showed more than
half of Egyptians favor an annulment of the 1979 peace treaty with
Israel.
The number of travelers currently crossing through Rafah is
limited to approximately 300 a day and is subject to Egyptian
security clearance that is often withdrawn. The other crossings
available to Gaza's 1.5 million people are with Israel and are
closed with few exceptions, such as emergency medical cases. Israel
allows goods into Gaza with restrictions on construction materials
it says could be used by militants.
In Washington, Jake Sullivan, the State Department's director of
policy planning, said the U.S. would continue to work with Egyptian
authorities on ensuring that weaponry and other material cannot
cross the Gaza border. He said he could not comment on the changes
in Egyptian policy.
The Israeli official said Friday that Israel was concerned about
calls in Egypt for the abrogation of the three-decade-old peace
agreement between the countries, by "the rapprochement between
Egypt and Iran, and by the upgrading of the relations between Egypt
and Hamas."
Hamas hailed the move. Taher Nunu, a Hamas spokesman, said Hamas
"has received positive signals from Egypt about the mechanism that
Egypt is going to adopt in the terminal," and has been informed by
the Egyptians that "all future progress on Egypt's part is going
to serve the interests of the people of Gaza."
Before the blockade was imposed, the crossing was supervised by
a detachment of European observers known as EUBAM that was meant to
block the movement of weapons and other contraband through the
terminal. The new details of the crossing's functioning, including
the role of the European observers, remains unclear.
Benoit Cusin, a EUBAM spokesman, said Friday that he was aware
that discussions were ongoing among "Egypt and other parties" but
that there had been "no decision on redeployment of EUBAM
monitors."
The decision by Egypt marks a further cooling of ties with
Israel. The peace agreement between the two countries, in return
for which Egypt received the captured Sinai peninsula back from
Israel and significant military and economic assistance from the
U.S., has anchored regional stability for more than three decades.
This week's unity deal between Hamas and Fatah drew praise from
Iran. The official IRNA news agency quoted Ali Akbar Salehi, the
foreign minister, expressing hope the deal could accelerate
"achieving great victories in confrontation with occupiers,"
meaning Israel.