Hezbollah chief asks Egypt to stop building Gaza border wall
Tensions have run high after Nasrallah accused Egypt of complicity with Israel's war in Gaza.
By Reuters Tags: Hezbollah Israel newsHezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday called on Egypt to stop building a steel wall along the Gaza border that could obstruct smuggling tunnels which provide a lifeline for the blockaded enclave.
The smuggling tunnels provide not only munitions but food, cars, motorcycles, drugs, medicine and fuel, much more than what Israel allows into the Strip through the official border crossing.
Nasrallah told a crowd of tens of thousands of Lebanese Shi'ite Muslim marking the Ashura religious ceremony that Egypt should be condemned if it does not stop building the wall.
Tensions between Egypt, a predominantly Sunni country, and Hezbollah, a Shi'ite group backed by Iran, have been running high since last year when Nasrallah accused Cairo of complicity with Israel in its siege of the Gaza strip.
"In addition to the siege there has been news about (building) a steel wall..to terminate the thin veins which are giving some life and some hope to Gaza," he said.
"We call on the government in Egypt and the leadership to stop the wall and flooding the tunnels and to end the siege otherwise it should be condemned by all Arabs and the Muslims," he said.
Egypt is trying 26 men suspected of links with Hezbollah and accused of planning attacks inside the country. Hezbollah denies they had plans for attacks inside Egypt and says one of the men is a Hezbollah member and that he and up to 10 others were trying to supply military equipment to Hamas-run Gaza.
Egyptian officials have said steel tubes were being placed at several points along the 8-mile-long border, but they did not specify their purpose.
Palestinians fear a steel barrier, deep underground, would limit or end smuggling through hundreds of tunnels operating in defiance of a three-year-old Israeli-led blockade.
Tunnel-builders said some 3,000 tunnels were operational before Israel launched a three-week offensive in the Gaza Strip a year ago, but only 150 were still functional following the conflict and subsequent Israeli air raids.
"This unjust silence over besieging a whole people should not continue regardless of the excuses," Nasrallah said.
Shortly before Nasrallah's speech tens of thousands of Shi'ite Muslim Lebanese, chanting "Death to America, death to Israel," marched in Hezbollah's Beirut stronghold to commemorate the annual Ashura ritual.
A sea of men, women and children marched in the streets of Beirut's southern suburbs carrying Hezbollah's yellow and black flags and some carried religious slogans. They beat their chests in a sign of grief over the killing of the Prophet Mohammad's grandson, Imam Hussein and chanted "O Hussein" and "We will never be humiliated."
Ashura commemorates Hussein, who was killed along with most of his family by Islamic ruler Yazid, who Shi'ites remember as an oppressor and murderer. Hussein's death at Kerbala in Iraq in AD 680 is a defining moment in the history of Shi'ite Islam.
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The insane Hamas, Al Quaeda, Hizbollah, PLO, Iran Mullah, Taliban Islamic extremist of the world think any crime they do should be legal and justify why. This fence is decades overdue and should circle all of Gaza.
The wall Egypt is building is to stop terrorists from smuggling in weapons to be used to kill civilians. Of course, this wall would not be necessary if Hamas would give up on its policy of genocide directed towards the Jewish state. If you do not believe that genocide is Hamas' goal, then read their charter. I have.
The truth is Nasserullah has scored again. While none of the civilized world paid attention to the human tragedy in Gaza at least some one is seeking justice. Justice for the hungry and the needy that will prevail as well as those who seek it "Good Deeds Always Prevail" my guess nasserullah will and Isreal and it is slaves Hosni Mubarak and his gang will be doomed.
He may also ask the sun to stand still. It will have as much effect as Hisbollah asking Egypt to do anything. The Egyptian government is not happy with a bunch of Lebanese Shiite meddling in Egypt's politics as it is.
is working against the interest and the wishes of its own people. The regime must be changed and democratic forces that meet the needs and interest of the Egyptian people must be elected. Mubarack , Saudi rulers , Jordan's king are all traitors , opressive dictators that need to be "gone"....
I realize if Egypt builds a wall then it wants to copy imitate mirror what Russia did in 1945 but then the Berlin wall is gone ironic that it is now back in Gaza you can not blame Israel for this one 1 but alas some how the logic will may be twisted around to blame Israel as well and so as 2010 is only 3 4 5 days away you need wonder what may happen in 2010 RIGHT ??? Thank You... M. S.
"walls"? And, we give 100 millon per year to the Egyptian Gov. People have also got to help themselves, like in Iran. Frankly speaking, the Iranian people will be the ones who sve the Arab states, they're the ones with courage enough to do it.
Hezbollah and Nasrallah do not recognize national borders, rather religious borders, which of course can move when the unbelievers are eliminated or converted. The smuggling of arms from Iran and Syria to Hizbollah is not seen as illegal, legitimized by the Lebanese government. Now Hizbollah ask the Egyptian government to remove barriers to smuggling to Hamas. Egypt has every right to bring order to its borders according to international norms. The occasional killings of Egyptian border police from Hamas territory does nothing to heal the deep historic mistrust Egypt has for Gaza.
This brings it to a head.At last the Egypt government has to decide whether it has a Peace Treaty with Israel or an unwritten one with Hamas and Hizbollah.They spent so much time treating Hamas terrorist so-called negotiators like respectable diplomats that it looked like they were ditching Israel and going over to the extremists.There's no middle position. THREE CHEERS FOR ISRAEL!!!
Egypt, the most imortant Arab friend of the USA is under attack by the agents of Iran. The USA has failed in protecting and aiding its friends. It is not a game, it is the price of oil. USA under the present administration is not doing well at all. Just look at the demonstrating people of Iran and not a real support from the USA. Sad
quite the opposite.
who are Western-backed. Mubarak fits this category. I am not surprised by Hamas increasing pressure on Egypt while their financial backers in Iran attempt to make deals with Egypt. Israel isn't the only country that is experiencing extortion from terrorists in order to change facts on the ground. Turkey has also been behaving differently (badly) as they see the War on Terror as a big Western failure and therefore they will have to side with those who would otherwise reek havoc for them. Talk to your enemies means success equals being severely extorted and manipulated by evil. When there is a moral obligation to defeat these killers then perhaps the international picture will change for the better. The pattern of indulging these killers is making more terrorists every day. The Nigerian Jihadi bomber just ripper a huge hole in a Western fantasy that terrorists are poor and disenfranchised people. This Nigerian was as rich as Bin Laden himself.