RAFAH, Gaza Strip, Jan. 24, 2008
Wide-Open Gaza-Egypt Border Angers Israel
Thousands Of People Still Crossing At Will; Israel Says It Will Sever Ties With Gaza Strip
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A Palestinian woman is helped across a section of the destroyed border wall between Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip and Egypt, as they cross back into Gaza, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2008. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)
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A Palestinian man pulls goats and sheep across a section of the destroyed border wall between Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip and Egypt, as he returns to Rafah, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2008. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)
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Palestinians cross the border into Egypt after militants exploded the separated wall between Gaza Strip and Egypt, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2008. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)
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Egyptian security personnel use a water cannon and riot police to disperse Palestinian women, supporters of Hamas, during a demonstration at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2008. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
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A Palestinian boy holding the Muslims holy book the Quran in one hand and a replica rifle in the other, during a protest against Israeli tactics in the Gaza Strip in al-Yarmouk refugee camp a major refugee camp some 6 miles south of Damascus Monday Jan. 21, 2008. Some 1,500 people headed by Hamas deputy leader Mousa Abou Marzouk and members of other Damascusbased Palestinian factions took part in the rally. (AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi)
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Play CBS Video Video Gaza Border Fence Blown Up Militants from Gaza used landmines to blast through a border fence allowing Palestinians to enter Egypt. The Egyptian president ordered guards to allow their purchase of food. Richard Roth reports.
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Video Palestinians Breach Gaza Wall Palestinians have been pouring into Egypt from Gaza by the thousands, seeking food, fuel and refuge from the severe blockade imposed by Israel. Charlie D'Agata reports.
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Photo Essay Gaza Wall Tumbles Tens of thousands of Palestinians pour into Egypt after gunmen blast down barrier.
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Interactive Mideast Conflict Events, key players and a history of the world's most unstable region.
It was not immediately clear whether the minister, Matan Vilnai, was expressing the view of the Israeli government, or was testing international receptiveness to such idea.
Privately, several Israeli officials have said Wednesday's breach of the Gaza-Egypt border by Palestinian militants was a positive development that would ease pressure on Israel to keep providing for Gaza's basic needs, and could pave the way for increasingly disconnecting from the territory.
Egypt in the past has resisted a link with Gaza, and it was uncertain how it would react to such an idea, though a top Egyptian official said Thursday that Egypt's border with Gaza will go back to normal, and strongly rejected Israel's plan to sever ties.
"This is a wrong assumption," Hossam Zaki, the official spokesman for Egypt's foreign ministry, said of Israeli hints that it was thinking of giving up all responsibility for Gaza, including supplying electricity, now that the territory's southern border with Egypt is open.
"The current situation is only an exception and for temporary reasons," Zaki said. "The border will go back to normal."
On the Gaza-Egypt border, Egyptian border guards began trying to control the masses of Palestinians flooding across the border for a second day Thursday, stopping some from moving deeper into Egypt, but not attempting to reseal the border.
Before Wednesday, gunmen had blown down the border wall, and tens of thousands of Gazans, cooped up by border closures for two years, had rushed into Egypt. The breach effectively ended Israel's tight blockade of Gaza, imposed last week in response to a spike in rocket attacks on Israeli border towns.
In the past two days, Gazans have stocked up on supplies in Egypt, including cement, fuel, cigarettes and other staples. In response, Israel stopped emergency shipments of industrial diesel fuel, arguing that Gazans were now able to get supplies from Egypt. However, Palestinian officials said Gaza's power plant would shut down Sunday, for a second time in a week, if the fuel shipments don't resume.
Israel is worried that along with the fuel, cigarettes and medicine moving back into Gaza through the chaos, some Gazans may smuggle in guns and explosives, reports CBS News correspondent Richard Roth.
Vilnai suggested Thursday that Israel views the border breach as an opportunity to disconnect from Gaza. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, after a 38-year military occupation. However, the international community has not accepted Israel's contention that its occupation - and with that Israel's responsibility for Gaza's civilians - ended entirely with the pullout since Israel still controls most access to Gaza.
Vilnai said Thursday, in comments confirmed by his office, that "we need to understand that when Gaza is open to the other side we lose responsibility for it."
"So we want to disconnect from it," he was quoted as saying. "We want to stop supplying electricity to them, stop supplying them with water and medicine, so that it would come from another place."
Israel will continue to be responsible for the flow of such supplies into the Gaza Strip until an alternative is found, the office quoted him as saying.
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Gazans, meanwhile, hoped that the temporary border opening will become permanent. Both Egypt and Israel had restricted the movement of people and goods in and out of Gaza after Hamas won parliament elections in 2006, and further tightened the closure after Hamas seized control of the area by force.I don't need to buy anything. Freedom is more important.
Adel Tildani, Gaza resident"The Egyptians started doing good deeds by letting us in. For God's sake, why don't they keep allowing us to pass through?" said Mohammed Abu Amra, a Palestinian walking across the border on crutches. "Everyone is rushing into Egypt before they seal it off."
The border breach has boosted the popularity of Gaza's Hamas rulers, who in recent months had struggled to rule because of border closures. The sanctions have led to severe shortages of cement, cigarette and other basic goods, deepened poverty and drove up unemployment.
Hamas has used the border breach - carefully planned, with militants weakening the metal wall with blow torches about a month ago - to push its demand for reopening the border passages, this time with Hamas involvement. Such an arrangement would in effect end the international sanctions against the Islamic militants.
Hamas government spokesman Taher Nunu suggested Thursday that Hamas would seek a role in a future on the Gaza-Egypt border. "An open border like this has no logic," he said. "We are studying the mechanism of having an official crossing point."
However, it's not clear whether Egypt will acquiesce. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has been under intense public pressure at home in recent days to alleviate the suffering of Gazans under blockade. However, Egypt would likely be reluctant to have an open border with a territory ruled by Islamic militants.
In other developments:
An Arab diplomat said Egypt told the U.S. it expects the Palestinians' exodus from Gaza to end by midday Thursday, but a senior U.S. official said Egypt has not been precise about when it will stop the flow.
In Tel Aviv, visiting US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said that while Hamas itself was to blame for the shortages in the Gaza Strip, it was for Egypt to restore order at the frontier.
"Obviously it is going to be up to the Egyptian government to bring under control the situation along the border," he said at the start of a meeting with Israeli Cabinet minister Shaul Mofaz.
Egyptian border guards were patrolling access roads to the border Thursday. Police in helmets and with sniffer dogs used batons to beat the hoods of private cars and pickup trucks that massed at the border to carry Palestinians further into Egyptian territory.
Cargo shipments across the border picked up Thursday, using the back-to-back system. Trucks and donkey carts pulled up to the Egyptian side, the goods were unloaded and carried across to the Gazan side were they were put in waiting trucks.
Gaza businessman Abu Omar Shurafa received a shipment of 100 tons of cement, seizing an opportunity to stock up before the border closes again. "Everyone is exerting all efforts to stock the reserves for six to seven months. We have to find a way to continue living," he said.
Still, he was also hopeful that this could be the beginning of a new arrangement. "A solution has to be like this," he said, referring to the flow of goods from Egypt.
Some Gazans just wanted to get out, even for a few hours.
"We just want freedom," said Adel Tildani, who was bringing his mother-in-law from Egypt into Gaza to meet grandchildren she had never seen before. "I don't need to buy anything. Freedom is more important."
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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grazinggoat,
Re: "Going to war over Lebanon was NOT Olmert''s decision. This decision has been taken most likely in Washington (White House and AIPAC Corridors). Olmert did not take the decision per se. He tried to deal with the order as best he could, given the circumstances."
Interesting. I wouldn''t be surprised.- Reply to this comment
- whom do fascist nazi terrorislam want to be president of the usa?
Terrorists endorse Hillary in ''08
Mideast jihadi leaders say she''s best hope for victory in Iraq
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-Terrorists-Hollywood-Jihadists-Reveal/dp/0979045126 - Reply to this comment
- looking for a young wife???
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- Dutch Braced For ''Koran Insult'' Backlash
If I insult you, am I responsible for your violence?
It''s a question being debated in the Netherlands this week as Dutch embassies around the world beef up their security ahead of the release of a film on the internet which allegedly insults the Koran. It''s reported to show the Koran being torn up and otherwise desecrated.
http://martinstanford.typepad.com/foreign_matters/2008/01/dutch-braced-fo.html - Reply to this comment
- IS ISLAM RETARDED???
I TOLD YOU THEY WERE FASCIST NAZIS
Dutch Politician: Islamic Culture Is ''''Retarded''''
Dutch Politician Plans to Air Film Criticizing the Koran
A Dutch politician known for his views against Islam plans to air a film he produced that is critical of the Koran, which he likens to Adolf Hitler''''s hateful writings.
Parliamentarian Geert Wilders spoke to FOX News about the documentary, insisting the Muslim holy book is dangerous and should be banned.
"I believe the Koran is, indeed, ''''Mein Kampf.'''' They are the same package," Wilders said. "I believe that our culture is far better than the retarded Islamic culture."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,325305,00.html - Reply to this comment
- "Thousands Of People Still Crossing At Will; Israel Says It Will Sever Ties With Gaza Strip"
And so the Gaza residents will lose ties to those trying to blockade and starve them to extinction?
Logic would say that it is better for the Gaza strip not to have such ties in the first place. - Reply to this comment
- It angers Israel??? Oh, no!!!!!!
Shut up, Israel! You created this ghetto and now you''re angry because people don''t want to live in it? Should they have followed your lead in the Warsaw ghetto? - Reply to this comment
- CBSNews: ''Berger reports that a week before an official inquiry on the war releases its findings, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is defending his performance, saying he is a responsible leader and not sorry about the critical decisions he made. In its interim report, the inquiry described Olmert''s handling of the war as a failure. And the final report is expected to bring a new avalanche of calls for his resignation.''
- It''s very important here to understand the difference between WHO ORDERED the war and ITS HANDLING by incompetent Olmert. The decision to start a war on Lebanon was and is still wrong in many views. Same thing as the decision of tight-closing the borders over Pals in Gaza Strip. Since you cannot eliminate the foes completely (otherwise it would be called genocide), then all diplomatic steps should be tried to satisfy the logics of responsibility and prudence that a leader is meant to show... Once all steps, really all diplomatic channels have been tried, with no results, then war is then inevitable. In case you don''t succeed, then you earn the reputation of Murderer and Aggressor.
Going to war over Lebanon was NOT Olmert''s decision. This decision has been taken most likely in Washington (White House and AIPAC Corridors). Olmert did not take the decision per se. He tried to deal with the order as best he could, given the circumstances.
-This study is just another cover-up for an idiot, irresponsible and grave decision made by influent people in Washington. Time will tell. - Reply to this comment
- Posted by ilikecats1 at 10:51 PM : Jan 24, 2008
Sorry ilike, I don''t understand what you are saying with this post. - Reply to this comment
- A abstract is a noun like an apple. I give you part of an apple and I can give you part of an abstract.
Posted by ilikecats1 at 10:37 PM : Jan 24, 2008
I don''t care. Nothing you post means anything. NOTHING. Just like your copy and paste posts to obscure references that have nothing to do with the discussion, are incomplete, incorrect, or outright lies. - Reply to this comment
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