Friday, January 23, 2009
Israel's extraterritorial control of Gaza
The relationship between Egypt, Israel, the U.S., and the Rafah crossing (and its closing) has been a bit of a mystery to me. I know Egypt (the Egyptian government, that is) has its own self-interest in destroying Hamas (and presumably thereby weakening the Muslim Brotherhood which threatens the Egyptian government), but there has to be something more. This article sheds a bit more light on the subject:
Egypt needs Israel's permission to increase the number of its border guards! Astonishing!Israel to allow Egypt to boost force on Gaza border to fight smuggling
Israel has taken a favorable view of an Egyptian request to increase the force of its border guards along the Philadelphi Route by at least 750 - and possibly as much as 1,500 - according to a senior Israeli political source.
Meanwhile, the head of the political-security bureau at the Defense Ministry, Amos Gilad, discussed the matter of expanding the Egyptian border force with Omar Suleiman, head of the Egypt's intelligence, in Cairo last night.
It is also unclear whether the broadening of the Egyptian border force will become part of the Israeli-Egyptian peace accords, or whether it will be a tacit agreement between the two. If the agreement is to be anchored in a written deal, the cabinet and the Knesset will need to approve it because it will alter the peace agreement of 1979.
