Here’s video from the AP. And here’s the article:
RAFAH, Egypt, Jan. 23 -- Tens of thousands of Palestinians fled the blockaded Gaza Strip on Wednesday after masked gunmen blasted through the wall separating the Egyptian and Palestinian halves of this border city.
Gazans poured through the breaches on foot and in donkey carts, eager to buy food and other staples that have been largely unavailable since Israel sealed Gaza’s borders last week in an attempt to halt a rash of rocket attacks.
The seven-mile barrier was blown out for hundreds of yards at a
stretch. Mines tore through steel fences and blast walls, starting at 2
a.m. local time, residents said. In places, it looked as though
mechanical equipment had been used to bulldoze the blast walls
completely...Police from the militant Islamic group Hamas, which controls Gaza,
directed the traffic over the border, the Associated Press reported.
Egyptian border guards took no action and did not keep track of those who crossed. Rumor among those leaving Gaza was that Egypt would keep the border open four days.
Now that Israel is no longer controlling the border between Egypt and Gaza, I really wonder how long that divide is going to last. On the Israeli side of walls with Gaza there’s not substantial pressure to let people in. On the Egyptian side, the situation is much different:
Egypt, too, generally keeps its border with Gaza closed, in hopes of preventing the spread of Hamas-style militancy within Egypt. But the government has come under increasing public pressure to do something to help the Palestinians.
"I told them to let them come in and eat and buy food and then return them later as long as they were not carrying weapons," Mubarak told the Associated Press.
I think one of the stronger arguments for Israeli withdrawal from Gaza is that it starts to make a Gaza an Egyptian problem, not an Israeli problem. That said, the question for Israeli is how many weapons get smuggled through as a result.
Comments