A profound change in circumstances has occured with the breaching of the Gaza-Egypt wall. It will require a whole new Israeli policy towards Gaza. While Israeli leaders are trying to pass the next few Winograd-dominated days in peace and then come up with a new policy, they let the Arabs spend their time arguing about the border issue which they cannot solve on their own.
Hamas has the upper hand here; they felled the wall and can do so again and again. And Egyptian authorities are too frightened to shoot at them and incur the wrath of the Egyptian people who support the hungry and persecuted Gazans.
Hamas brought the wall down not merely to allow people to cross thru Rafah, as in the old days, but in order to lift the economic siege on Gaza. Therefore, any return to the old days in Rafah is just a sweet dream in some people`s minds. And any idea that things will be settled without Israeli involvement is also a mere sweet dream.
Eventually, I can imagine that there will be Israeli consent to open a new crossing with Egypt for goods too. At the present time, goods must go through Kerem Shalom, i.e., under Israeli control. The reason was the custom duties needed in order to maintain a free trading zone between Israel and Palestine. But if Israel does not allow imports from Gaza, who needs such a zone? Let the Gazans import and export their goods through Egypt. Makes sense, but let us not expect a quick resolution here. Ideas move very slowly in Jerusalem. |
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