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| Palestinians cross the border into Egypt after the wall was destroyed by Palestinian militants. The tidal wave of people into
Egypt may inadvertently force the nationto assume a greater responsibility for the Gaza Strip, something thatIsrael has been
pushing for for quite some time. Abid Katib/Getty Images |
Israel sees upside in hole in Gaza wall
Israeli officials see opportunity to turn Gaza over to Egypt to provide services.
from the January 25, 2008 edition
Page 2 of 3
In light of the break, however, Israel has tried to underscore the extent to which, when it said it was disengaging from the Gaza Strip, it meant it. Following its removal of settlers and soldiers from Gaza in August 2005 and the Strip's declaration as a "hostile entity" – militants have launched more than 200 rockets from Gaza into Israel in the past week alone – Israel says it is no longer occupying Gaza and should not have to provide services to it.
"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," Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai told Israel's Army Radio on Thursday.
"We want to stop supplying electricity to them, stop supplying them with water and medicine, so that it would come from another place," Mr. Vilnai said.
Only weeks ago, there were back-channel discussions of Israel and Hamas reaching some kind of a prisoner exchange, in which Israel might release several hundred jailed Palestinians in exchange for Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who was captured by Hamas gunmen who had tunneled into Israel from Gaza in June 2006. Some hoped a cease-fire might follow. Now, that possibility seems more distant.
"Why should we stop the rockets while the Israelis are still occupying our land in Gaza and the West Bank," says Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for Hamas in Gaza. "Mahmoud Abbas has been trying for a long time to gain Palestinian rights, but they are not giving him anything. Negotiations have proven a failure. These rockets are messages for the Israelis that there is a people suffering in Gaza, and they have to stop their violence against the Palestinians."
From the Israeli side of the fence, however, the arguments sound different. There is a sense of frustration at having tried to leave Gaza, only to have an increase in rocket attacks on Israeli citizens. Having a Gaza Strip that turns to Egypt for support bolsters an oft-heard Israeli argument: that sending supplies to a territory one is at war with can't work.
"This basically helps promote what was the Israeli objective for a long time," says Mark Heller, the director of research at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University.
"There is a bit of downside," Dr. Heller says. "It will make some marginal difference [because] it's a little bit freer to bring in weapons, explosives, and terrorists, but they were coming through the tunnels anyway. To the extent that there was a policy to weaken or undermine Hamas, it gives them a lifeline. But it is functionally handing Gaza over to Egypt. And it will be harder to find the excuse for blaming Israel for Gaza's troubles."
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