Egypt-Gaza border resealed
This article highlights the governmental structure/integration with Hamas and their demanding to be recognized internationally.
"Gaza's Hamas rulers are demanding new border arrangements that would give it a say in administration. But that looks doubtful with the international community opposed to any role for the Islamic militant group in running the crossing."
"Bearded Hamas police worked in tandem with the Egyptians, trying to keep the crowd back. It was a marked change from several days ago, when uniformed Hamas men thwarted Egyptian attempts to reseal the border."
Not fully understanding the reasons for the breach, but I see it as a stunt to try to legitimize or put the spotlight on Hamas as a legit governmental organization. These attempts to "give it a say in the administration" and "working in tandem with the Egyptians," brings focus to them and seems to make them more credible as a governmental organization.
Greg
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5 comments:
No matter how you cut it, Hamas is a political force to reckon with in Palestine, and if not dealt with in that sence will only prolong the crisis. We should remember that the breach in the border was created due to the suffering the Palestinian people are going through. If the peace plan that requires Isreal to return occupied areas in the West bank would help in stopping the violence significantly. The last Prime Minister who tried to do this was killed by an Isreali.
Hamas is a terrorist organization that I know very little about. When did Hamas originate, and under what circumstances did they organize? Is Hamas generally supported by the group it purports to represent? Additionally, what are the main goals of Hamas? Hamas is an organization that I feel I should know more about, any ideas?
In Response to Braidy:
In June of 1967, tensions between Israel and Syria escalated into a regional conflict with Israel launching a preemptive strike against Egypt and then beating back the Arab coalition of Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Jordan. During the conflict, Israel not only drove back the far larger Arab coalition but it also seized key pieces of real estate such as the West Bank and the Gaza Strip from neighboring Arab countries.
After the June War concluded, Israel not only held onto these territories that it had seized it began to occupy them militaraily. However, occupation would prove to be laborious task because a majority of the native population in these territories were Palestinians - a group that wasn't to fond of the Jews. In any case, a growing sense of frustration began to grow among the Palestinians living in the occupied territories. Living conditions were squalid in the territories and to further complicate things, the occupation of these territories further enraged the Palestinian people, who saw the occupation as a further attempt by the Jews to grab what little land that they had left.
After 20 years of this occupation, the Palestinian people had had enough. The people rose up in an open revolt against the Jewish occupiers in what became known as the First Intifada.
The First Intifada, or "War of the Stones," was a mass uprising against Israeli military occupation, that began in Jabalia refugee camp and spread to Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Palestinian actions took a number of forms, including civil disobedience, general strikes, boycotts on Israeli products, graffiti, and barricades, but it was the stone-throwing demonstrations by youth against the heavily-armed Israeli Defense Forces that brought the intifada international renown.
This uprising was lead by Yasser Arafat and his coalition organization named the Unified National Leadership of the Uprising. However, cohesion and unity were hard to come by in this conflict, so a variety of break-off groups were formed.One of these new group that was born was one known as Hamas (Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya - in English it is known as the "Islamic Resistance Movement).
Hamas was created in 1987 by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin of the Gaza wing of the Muslim Brotherhood at the beginning of the First Intifada. Best known in Israel and the West for its suicide bombings and other terrorist attacks directed against civilians and Israeli military and security forces targets, Hamas' charter (written in 1988 and still in effect) calls for the destruction of the State of Israel and its replacement with a Palestinian Islamic state in the area that is now Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip.
Israel is going to build a fence between themselves and Egypt.(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7230955.stm) Since the breech in the Gazan wall, which allowed for the first suicide attack in Israel in a year, the government and people are concerned about public safety. The article claims that the suicide attack is not claimed by Hamas, but rather the work of those who live in the West Bank. Either way it appears that Israel feels the only way to protect themselves is to build a fence that will extend nearly the entire border between Egypt and Israel, in the gaps where terrain is mountainous and no fence will exist they will put up sensors,
I get a vibe that there is an idea that Israel can be blamed for the Hamas troubles, as though their strategy may be backfiring...
I wonder if we could say that because we overcrowd our prisons with drug felons that we are only increasing our taxes and not really stopping the drug problem.
If Israel backed down do you really think that Hamas would let up. The goal of the Palestinians is to completely remove "Zionists" from the continent. If the Palestinian sectors needs so much help why doesn't the rest of the Arab world help out. There are large regions of Lebanon and Syria that are sparcely populated.
The problem is the Arab nations would rather have a scapegoat, the poor downtrodden Palestinians, to point at and say "See Israel should be gone, look what they do."
I think that if Israel were to change their tactics towards the Palestinians their plight would only get worse, think of the parable "If you give a mouse a cookie, he'll want a glass of milk."
Yeah overreaction can be bad, but when faced with being overbearing or being destroyed, which choice would you make. Its not as though Israel is some imperialistic power, that area is their only homeland, the Palestinians have the rest of the Middle East that will accept them.
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