Saturday August 18, 2012, 4:57 am

Muslim Brotherhood eyes end to Gaza blockade

March 21, 2012 /

By Tom Perry and Nidal Al-Mughrabi / Reuters

CAIRO/GAZA: The Muslim Brotherhood aims to open the Egyptian border with Gaza to commerce, a shift that would transform life for Palestinians there but which is hitting resistance from Egyptian authorities reluctant to change a longstanding policy.

The biggest party in Egypt’s new parliament, the Islamists are not yet in government but have been seeking ways to ease the impact of restrictions imposed by Israel and Egypt on what passes in and out of the territory run by the Hamas group, an ideological offshoot of the Brotherhood.

Aiming to ease chronic power shortages in Gaza, the Brotherhood recently lobbied the Egyptian government to conclude a deal to supply fuel for the territory’s sole power station.

However, the blackouts still plaguing Gaza several weeks after the deal was declared show that changing policy is easier said than done in Cairo, where government is still largely run by remnants of Hosni Mubarak’s administration.

“It’s the continuation of the Mubarak method in dealing with the Palestinian issue,” said Gamal Hishmat, the deputy chair of the Egyptian parliamentary committee on foreign affairs and a Muslim Brotherhood MP.

The fuel has yet to arrive because of a dispute over how it should be delivered, according to Hamas and Brotherhood MPs familiar with the details. Hamas wants it to come across Gaza border with Egypt, a precedent that could lead to broader trade through the only Palestinian frontier not controlled by Israel.

Egypt had initially backed this but then said it should go via Israel, the Hamas and Brotherhood sources said. Officials at the Egyptian oil ministry could not be reached for comment.

Home to 1.7 million people, Gaza has been under tight embargo since Hamas took control in 2007. Hamas is deeply hostile to Israel, which signed its peace treaty with Egypt in 1979. Under international pressure, Israel eased import curbs on Gaza in 2010 but for the most part businesses cannot export.

Protests organized by Hamas at the border this week over the power crisis have signaled growing impatience with restrictions Palestinians feel should have ended with Mubarak’s rule.

Egypt’s ruling military led by Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi eased restrictions on the passage of travelers last year, but the change fell short of what Palestinians were seeking.

“The Field Marshal of Egypt and the government of Egypt and the whole world stand silent as Gaza remains under blockade,” Mohamed Ashour, a local official in Gaza, told a rally, his voice booming from loud speakers across the frontier.

A Brotherhood priority

Commerce has been forced underground into tunnels under the border. Mubarak’s last years in power were marked by suspicion bordering on outright hostility towards Hamas, an ideological cousin of the Brotherhood group that was banned under his rule.

“I want the crossing to open completely, so that whoever wants to travel from Gaza can come to Egypt,” said Mahmoud Ghozlan, spokesman for the Brotherhood. “We support opening the crossing for import and export.”

Hamas wants the same. “We are not happy with the tunnels,” Mahmoud Al-Zahar, a Hamas leader from Gaza, told Reuters.

For the Brotherhood, the first justification is moral. The Gaza blockade is one of the most emotive issues in the Arab world. There would also be an economic benefit for northern Sinai, one of the poorest parts of Egypt.

For Israel, the idea does not appear a cause for concern.

“The Israeli foreign minister has suggested that we do everything we can to help Gaza stop depending on Israel for anything and instead deal directly with Egypt,” an Israeli diplomat said. He added that checks would be needed on the Egyptian side to prevent arms reaching Gaza but said the fuel deal did not raise any alarm.

The Egyptian position has long been shaped by concern Israel would relinquish all responsibility for Gaza were the border with Sinai opened. With the rise of Hamas in Gaza, Cairo was also guided by concern Palestinian militancy could spill over.

A diplomat familiar with Gaza policy said Cairo’s worry was now that yielding to Hamas demands would weaken Egypt’s leverage over the group and undermine efforts to nudge it towards reconciliation with the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Some Palestinians share the fear that opening the border with Egypt would allow Israel to wash its hands of Gaza while also entrenching the divide with the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority.

Al-Zahar did not expect any serious change in policy until Egypt elects a new president, completing the transition from army rule at the end of June. “In this interim period I do not believe fundamental changes will happen,” he said. –Additional reporting by Crispian Balmer, Maayan Lubell, Ayman Samir and Ali Sawafta.

Saturday August 18, 2012, 8:18 am
Whatever happened to those millions of dollars Arafat stole from the Palestinians?

Saturday August 18, 2012, 11:10 am
These Gazans must surely rank amongst the biggest pork pie tellers in the world

Saturday August 18, 2012, 6:24 pm
Where's the flotilla to Syria? 20000 plus dead not enough?

Saturday August 18, 2012, 8:30 pm
Yes we saw recently a film of the 'suffering' humanity of Gaza. There is food and products aplenty via the tunnels - about 1800 of them - bringing goods in from Egypt. Amazing how much British foodstuff there was. We now here that Egypt is going to blow the tunnels up.....really - believe it when we see/hear of it.

Saturday August 18, 2012, 11:06 pm
Eye opening news

Sunday August 19, 2012, 12:37 am
Very refreshing - I am not used to this point of view. Usually I belong on the wrong side...

Sunday August 19, 2012, 3:45 pm
Thanks for the link. The article was really witty.

Monday August 20, 2012, 2:06 pm
This has to be the most ridiculous zionist propaganda I ever saw. It is in very poor taste; the massacre of humanitarian aid workers on the Freedom Flotilla in international waters by order of the zionist regime is too fresh in my memory to find this nonsense laughable.

The Palestinians rarely have enough water even to drink let alone to swim in. The illegal zionist settlements which are rapidly colonising occupied Palestine have green watered lawns and swimming pools when nearby, Palestinian children go thirsty. The list of zionist crimes against humanity are endless; children are routinely murdered by IDF snipers; everything these people build to try and survive is destroyed and they live in constant threat of brutal and murderous attacks, even when inside their homes. The zionist regime is about terrorising, humiliating and degrading Palestinians. If this is untrue, why are the Palestinians not allowed autonomy? Surely we all have a right to self rule and not [over sixty years of] tyrannical military occupation.

The countless atrocities the Palestinians live with are far too big and obvious to hide with any amount of outrageous lies. Do the authors and propagators of these obvious lies have no fear of judgement day?

And before you zionist shills start with the traditional 'anti-Semitic' accusations, I am absolutely supportive of Judaism and of the true Torah Jews; all of whom believe that the end of this military occupation is best for everyone. Judaism is a beautiful faith; by studying the Holy Torah, one can see that zionism is the opposite to Judaism. True Jews do not want a homeland yet for religious reasons and they certainly would not support an illegal apartheid such as is operating in occupied Palestine.

Jews believe "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn." (The Great Principle)

How does this wise statement sit when there are walls around the West bank, twice the height of the Berlin Wall? If you want someone to leave you in peace, try something other than stealing their home and their lands and oppressing and murdering them in an open air prison.

There are a great many documentaries and clips of the atrocities that are undeniable proof of my words. Anyone can research 'Gaza' or the 'West Bank' or 'Palestine' and find conclusive evidence of zionist policies causing all manner of profound misery, destruction and death. Here are just the first wto I found but there are literally thousands. No amount of slick lies or billion dollar propaganda campaigns can hide the shame of us all for allowing this to happen and even paying for it with US and British taxes.

History Channel full documentary - Battle for occupation and retaliation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxzaa4GZwz8


Checkpoint - everyday life in Israel - Documentary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7lLluBf0xs&feature=related

If we do not take action or at least speak out, these oppressed Palestinians will not be the only ones who have to continue endure this Nazi-style humiliation. 'Show me your papers' is a phrase that we must never utter or comply with; guard your freedom and your constitutions and give every human being respect - or suffer like these people. Anything is better than being treated like a prisoner in your own lands by a foreign army.

Thursday August 23, 2012, 10:48 am
Bolje je da ništa ne komentarišem.

Saturday August 25, 2012, 6:02 pm
Thanks Gillian for shaing this