Egypt and Jordan quietly back Abbas, too
Arab governments worry that if Gazans starve, public support may swing behind Hamas.
from the June 20, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 3
Perhaps bolstering his analysis has been the stance of Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood. In a statement Monday, the group, which typically offers four-square support to its Palestinian comrades, was directly critical.
"Abbas is the legitimate Palestinian president and Hamas's battle should be with the Zionist enemy, not other Palestinians, so we ask them to return to a policy of dialogue and to restore the institutions in Gaza," the statement says.
To be sure, Egypt and Jordan are not identically threatened by current circumstances. "It's easier for us, since Gaza isn't on our border," says Gheishan. "It's more of an Egyptian problem."
Signs of that problem were visible a few miles west of the Rafah Crossing, which connects Gaza to Egypt. Standing a few meters from a crumbling concrete wall, Abdel Razaq Abdel Hamid is trying to explain how bad conditions are across the border in Gaza, when a deafening blast cuts him off.
The explosion was apparently the latest attempt to breach the wall that seals off the teeming territory from Egypt. "The Palestinians bomb the border to come here – because there is no water, no food [in Gaza]," he says. "If the US and Europe want to punish [someone] they must punish Hamas, not these people," says Mr. Abdel Hamid.
Israel has closed all the Gaza border crossings. But on Tuesday, the Associated Press reported that Israel let in the first food aid shipment from the UN World Food Program – 10 truckloads of food and two trucks carrying medical supplies. The WFP ordinarily feeds 250,000 Gazans. Shlomo Dror, an Israeli military spokesman, says aid would continue to flow barring Hamas "interference."
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