Trouble sealing Egypt-Gaza border

Egypt itself is not a natural ally for Islamist Hamas, which is an offshoot of the country's banned Muslim Brotherhood, the country's powerful opposition movement. Terror attacks in the Sinai over the years have been blamed by the Egyptian government on local Bedouins who have been radicalized by contact with Palestinian militants.

But controlling smuggling out of the Sinai is a decades-old, if not centuries-old, problem. Bedouins of the region have long been involved in moving goods across the border, from illegal drugs to tax-free cigarettes.

To be sure, Israel's critique has focused more on the smuggling and less on the Egyptian role, perhaps in part due to the sensitive point in negotiations over a possible prisoner exchange.

Israeli media reports hold that Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal is due to visit Egypt this weekend for a deal that might include the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails in exchange for the release of captured IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who was captured in June when militants tunneled into Israel and attacked an army post.

Egyptian observers, however, say that Israel is laying blame for an ongoing problem that Israel couldn't solve in its 38-year occupation of Gaza.

"The Israelis themselves could not control those tunnels, so it's difficult for whoever does it, whether it's the Egyptians or international forces," says Fahmi Howeidy, an Egyptian columnist at the Al Haram newspaper in Cairo.

"I think this is being used to increase the pressure on the Palestinian government," he says. "What else to they want? They are bombing Gaza every day. They make it sound as if this smuggling is a new thing, but it's a very old thing."

The border is also frequently used for smuggling cash, according to some reports. Khaled Abu Toameh, the Palestinian affairs correspondent for the Jerusalem Post, reported Thursday that the Hamas's Interior Minister Sayeed Siam went into Gaza this week with his suitcases stuffed with millions of dollars in cash to pay Palestinian policemen. The newspaper put the sum at $3 to $10 million.

Stewart Tuttle, spokesman at the US Embassy in Tel Aviv, says, "The Rafah arrangement where European monitors are working is an improvement over what was. Obviously, conditions aren't perfect. But this is a situation where the parties need to sit down and talk over what needs to be improved."

The official Gaza-Egyptian border crossing at Rafah has been closed for all but 12 days since Corporal Shalit was captured. Thursday, European Union Foreign Policy chief Javier Solana said he hoped the crossing would reopen on a regular basis soon.

EU officials who monitor the Rafah crossing have threatened to abandon their mission if Israel keeps closing the passage for what it says are security reasons.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said that while there needed to be talk about operational issues at Rafah, Israel was happy with the EU's involvement there, the first time it has accepted a European role in security aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. "We are going to negotiate with the Europeans on the future terms," she said. "But we are very positive about the role of Europe in monitoring the Rafah passage."

• Dan Murphy contributed reporting from Cairo and material from the Associated Press was used in this article.

Page: 1 | 2