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Condoleezza Rice meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit in Washington on July 9. (AP)
Last update - 21:10 19/07/2007
Egypt fails to persuade the U.S. Congress to unfreeze funds
By Amos Harel and Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent

Senior Egyptian officials visiting Washington have failed thus far in attempts to convince the United States Congress to change course on its intention to freeze $200 million in aid, according to report received by sources in Jerusalem.

The freeze is partially due to Egypt's inaction against keeping weapons from being smuggled across its border into the Gaza Strip.

About one month ago, the House of Representatives approved its foreign aid bill, which stipulated that $1.1 billion in military aid would be transferred to Egypt instead of the $1.3 billion it usually receives.
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The law has not gone through the Senate or been signed by U.S. President George W. Bush.

The Americans are not the only party frustrated by the ease with which weapons are brought into the Gaza Strip. A senior Israel Defense Forces officer said Thursday Hamas has made a significant leap in the past two years in the level of sophistication of the arms it is smuggling into Gaza, which he said has reached "import" dimensions.

The officer said Hamas has been able to smuggle in a large quantity of weapons primarily because the border with Egypt has been completely porous following the militant group's takeover of the Gaza Strip.

"Hamas has jumped light years in its capabilities since Israel withdrew from Gaza two years ago," the official said. "Now that Hamas controls Gaza, it is even easier for the group to smuggle weapons across the Egyptian border," he continued.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit and intelligence chief Omar Suleiman raised the aid issue during a visit to Washington last week, but were brushed off by the relevant congressional committees.

The Egyptian foreign minister met in Washington with Gary Ackerman, chairman of the House subcommittee on the Middle East and south Asia, and Nita Lowey, chairwoman of the State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee.

The Egyptian officials asked the lawmakers to reconsider their intention to withhold aid. Lowey told Gheit that Egypt needs to prove that it is doing more to prevent the smuggling, telling him that "nothing is free."

Aboul Gheit submitted to both Lowey and Ackerman a document detailing Egypt's activities against the weapons smuggling, saying that advances on the issue had been made. However, the document did not convince the American lawmakers.

Political sources have said that Gheit and Suleiman were met with general dissatisfaction from the American regarding Egypt's performance on democratization and human rights in general. The report on the visit said that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, devoted only a few minutes to a meeting with the Egyptian foreign minister, and greeted him with coldness.

According to the IDF officer commenting on Hamas' evolving capabilities, the militant group recently smuggled 20 tons of explosives into the Gaza Strip in the span of one month. The IDF believes Hamas now possesses a small quantity of anti-aircraft missiles and anti-tank rockets, which are most likely Sagger guided missiles.

Hamas rejected the assessment. "This is not true," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said. "They want to use this as a pretext to tighten the siege on Gaza."

These types of weapons have yet to be used against Israeli troops in the territories.

The officer said that Israel and Hamas are on a "collision course" in the Gaza Strip, adding that Israel does not have unlimited time to deal a serious blow to Hamas' strengthening in the Strip.

Nonetheless, the officer said Hamas apparently is not interested in a confrontation with Israel at this time, and instead prefers to continue consolidating its power in Gaza, smuggling arms, and carrying out small-scale terror attacks against Israeli targets.

The officer said IDF operations in the Gaza Strip are primarily defensive in nature, with troops penetrating some 2-3 kilometers beyond the security fence.

Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip have on a few occasions fired the Grad version of Katyusha rockets against Israel, but are not believed to possess a great number of them. Katyushas have an average range of 30 kilometers (18 miles) while Qassams rockets, which are fired regularly into Israel, have a range of about 10 kilometers (six miles)
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  1.   ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL!!! 12:40  |  Ben Uziel 19/07/07
  2.   I thought the Gazeans were starving!! 12:45  |  ScotGuy 19/07/07
  3.   Hamas is king! 13:01  |  Fritz 19/07/07
  4.   We`ll All Regret Our Gov`t.`s Negligence. 13:01  |  Terry 19/07/07
  5.   WITH COMPLIMENTS FROM YR. EGYPTIAN 13:03  |  Robert 19/07/07
  6.   How is that possible if ALL Gates are closed including Rafah 13:06  |  Amanda 19/07/07
  7.   FRITZ.KING Hamas is raining missiles daily on Israeli civillians 13:19  |  PETER SM 19/07/07
  8.   High Tech Weapons?? 13:25  |  Natallie Durson 19/07/07
  9.   Arms to Gaza? 13:26  |  Hannah 19/07/07
  10.   If Egypt Won`t Police The Border... 13:38  |  Dyinglikeflies 19/07/07
  11.   Gaza withdrawal BIG MISTAKE!! 13:41  |  MM 19/07/07
  12.   N DURSON" the gap will get smaller as time goes by" Assuming 13:42  |  PETER SM 19/07/07
  13.   amanda the gates are closed 13:43  |  cool 19/07/07
  14.   EU-BAM Observer gives opinion 13:46  |  EU-BAM Officer 19/07/07
  15.   ...and the king of gaza shall fall,,,according to 13:48  |  zechariah 9 and "tho 19/07/07
  16.   Re-occupation. 13:55  |  Vitaly 19/07/07
  17.   AMANDA .Tunnels and bribery 13:58  |  PETER.SM 19/07/07
  18.   Has Israel learnt the lesson or looking for another deafeat. 14:07  |  Philistine 19/07/07
  19.   Where Is The Big Hero, Barak? 14:08  |  Yosef 19/07/07
  20.   AMANDA EU- BAM. @14.Another liar? "Hannah" "the usual zionist-- 14:10  |  PETER SM 19/07/07
  21.   Help: I really don`t get it ... 14:10  |  Mumper 19/07/07
  22.   To #6 They smuggle the arms through the tunnels 14:15  |  Rafi 19/07/07
  23.   amanda #6 14:15  |  ka 19/07/07
  24.   #6 amanda - you were probably thinking that the border is like 14:17  |  CK Tan 19/07/07
  25.   well...? 14:33  |  ravi 19/07/07
  26.   Talk to Hamas before it`s too late " Abbas & Fatah are finished" 14:37  |  Philistine 19/07/07
  27.   #18 -- collision course 14:40  |  idf_sergeant 19/07/07
  28.   18.... 14:56  |  ravi 19/07/07
  29.   Hamas still believing modern weapons can do more than diplomacy? 14:58  |  infidel 19/07/07
  30.   Levelling the field will save Israelis 14:58  |  Tim 19/07/07
  31.   we didn`t know 15:06  |  margriet 19/07/07
  32.   arms smuggling 15:13  |  tony 19/07/07
  33.   28 is for the idf sarge...27.. apologies 18 15:14  |  ravi 19/07/07
  34.   TOLD YOU SO:GIVING AWAY LAND IS MORTAL DANGER! RETAKE GAZA NOW!!! 15:23  |  VOICE of MOSHIACH))) 19/07/07
  35.   OLMERT RESIGN NOW!!! 15:33  |  JB 19/07/07
  36.   Not a matter of guns, really.. 15:38  |  Maimon 19/07/07
  37.   The reality is somewhat different 15:39  |  Clickfool 19/07/07
  38.   Very likely true 15:45  |  Mark Lincoln 19/07/07
  39.   Expect a spectacular attack with devastating results 15:52  |  Boris 19/07/07
  40.   The Arabs remind me the Israeli soccer team in the 1950`s 15:55  |  Moti 19/07/07
  41.   NO PEACE WITH OUT WAR !!! 15:56  |  JOHN IMRON 19/07/07
  42.   #35 Again, Clickfool hits the target! 15:56  |  Joel Weltman 19/07/07
  43.   IAF-IDF 16:00  |  Ron 19/07/07
  44.   This IDF warning is not new , but it certainly proves 16:06  |  Joseph E . 19/07/07
  45.   Who are you talking about, Boris? # 39 16:13  |  Clickfool 19/07/07
  46.   IDF talks too much 16:13  |  sirius 19/07/07
  47.   Poor Israel, Send $ now 16:14  |  Mike 19/07/07
  48.   What`s a ton or two of High Explosives? 16:23  |  Joel Weltman 19/07/07
  49.   NO PEACE WITH OUT WAR !!! 16:24  |  JOHN IMRON 19/07/07
  50.   STOP THEM! 16:34  |  bashar 19/07/07
  51.   # 1 to Ben Uziel 16:35  |  Michael 19/07/07
  52.   They were supplied by the US 16:44  |  Marilyn 19/07/07
  53.   EU-BAM Officer ?? 16:44  |  Boycott 19/07/07
  54.   Expect an Abbas-Haniyyeh reconciliation 16:49  |  Nora 19/07/07
  55.   little thing called evidence 16:56  |  Rowan Berkeley 19/07/07
  56.   Israel Importing Arms. 16:57  |  Joe 19/07/07
  57.   Israel importing arms 16:59  |  Joe 19/07/07
  58.   Where is smart David gone? 16:59  |  Sens 19/07/07
  59.   `Defensive in nature `means Israelis will die later 17:00  |  Chick 19/07/07
  60.   N. Durson 17:00  |  Gary 19/07/07
  61.   #3 FRITZ - It isn`t an internal situation 17:03  |  * BEN JABO 19/07/07
  62.   #6 Amanda 17:06  |  * BEN JABO 19/07/07
  63.   #6 genious Amanda 17:08  |  Itsik 19/07/07
  64.   Talk To Hamas Before It`s Too Late 17:11  |  Gary 19/07/07
  65.   #8 Nutallie Durson 17:12  |  * BEN JABO 19/07/07
  66.   SORRY WE`RE BUSY PLANNING OUR ASSAULT ON COMPTROLLER & CO 17:12  |  PMO 19/07/07
  67.   # 18 Philistine 17:13  |  Lynn 19/07/07
  68.   Would Israel Level Gaza ? 17:13  |  Joe Moma 19/07/07
  69.   Hamas` Plans - in their own words 17:15  |  * BEN JABO 19/07/07
  70.   # 26 Philistine 17:16  |  Lynn 19/07/07
  71.   #25 The Invention Hate`s Fire 17:17  |