Egyptian forces retreat after failing to reseal Gaza border

By Amir Oren
January 26, 2008

Egyptian border guards and riot police officers
clashing with Palestinians trying to cross Gaza's
breached border into Egypt. (AP)

Egyptian police on the border with the Gaza Strip abandoned their positions Friday after failing to reseal the breached frontier with human chains, guard dogs and water cannons. Hundreds of thousands of Gazans have streamed over the border in the past few days after militants in the strip smashed through the fence separating it from Egypt.

In a direct challenge to Cairo, Hamas militants on Friday morning used a bulldozer to knock over a new section of the border wall. Hamas vowed to keep breaches in the border wall open until crossings into the Strip are reopened.

"The gaps shouldn't be closed because they provide urgent assistance to the Palestinians," said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri. Egyptian security personnel had initially deployed Friday along the border in a human chain - in some places as many as nine rows deep - and Palestinians were reportedly told the frontier would be sealed by 7 P.M. local time.

Clashes ensued however, and Egyptian forces took up positions a few steps into Palestinian territory, using shields to protect themselves from some Gazans who climbed atop car roofs and threw stones at them. Witnesses said a photographer was lightly injured in the clash.

At one point guards aimed a water cannon above the heads of people, not at them, to keep them back.

An Egyptian soldier was reported slightly wounded in the leg, likely from gunshots fired by Hamas militiamen sporadically from the Gazan side, said an Egyptian officer, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to talk to the media.

Five policemen were also injured by stones hurled by Gazans protesting the attempts to restrict their movement into Egypt.

By mid-afternoon, Egypt eased up on the attempts to restrict the cross-border movement. Hundreds of riot police suddenly left a border crossing at Rafah, to march back into the Egyptian side of the divided town, and Gazans again streamed by the hundreds through the regular crossing.

Mubarak: Gaza situation unacceptable, Israel must lift siege

In an interview published Friday, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak called the situation in Gaza unacceptable and called on Israel to lift the blockade and solve the problem.

"They should get things back to normal according to previous agreements and understandings," Mubarak told the weekly Al-Osboa. He also invited rival Palestinian factions to Cairo for talks, but did not mention a date.

Yousef Mohammed, 17, from Gaza, said he had waited until Friday to make the trip because he was trying to get together enough money first to shop in Egypt. "They don't want us to go in," he said, pointing at the riot police.

Egyptian Amira Ali, 39, carrying her toddler son and holding a 6-year-old son by the hand, said she wants to visit her mother-in-law in Gaza. "Of course, I'm afraid [of being trapped in Gaza], but will try to go for a while so my mother-in-law can see the kids," she said.

The border was breached Wednesday, when Palestinian militants blew down large sections of the border wall. Since then, Egypt has allowed tens of thousands of Palestinians to go back and forth, but has rejected any suggestion of assuming responsibility for the crowded, impoverished territory.

The opening of the border, even if temporary, provided a significant popularity boost to Gaza's Hamas rulers, who can claim they successfully broke through the internationally supported Israeli closure that has deprived the coastal strip of normal trade and commerce for nearly two years.

Both Egypt and Israel restricted the movement of people and goods in and out of Gaza after Hamas won parliament elections in 2006, and further tightened the closure after Hamas seized control of the area by force last June.

Hamas planning to launch attacks from Sinai

Hamas and other terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip have used the newly open border with Egypt to send numerous terrorists into the Sinai peninsula over the last two days, with the goal of then sending them from Sinai into Israel to commit attacks, defense officials said Thursday.

The Israel Defense Forces, the police and the Shin Bet security service have consequently beefed up their forces and their alert level along the Israeli-Egyptian border in an effort to thwart infiltrations. Should terrorists succeed in entering Israel from Sinai, one defense official said, they might commit suicide bombings, kidnap soldiers or civilians, or attack small agricultural communities or military outposts.

In addition, the counterterrorism unit in the Prime Minister's Office warned Israelis against visiting Sinai and urged those who are already there to leave, since the flow of terrorists from Gaza also increases the likelihood of terror attacks in Sinai's tourist resorts. Egypt is also worried about the possibility of terror attacks in Sinai.

One member of the counterterrorism unit noted that the open border not only enables terrorists to enter Sinai, but would also make it easier for them to smuggle an abducted Israeli back into Gaza.