| Debka, so salt and 48-hour rule in place. It sounds plausible tho. |
| For $5 million bucks, they can buy their own damn ponies. |
It is the first time that a Palestinian group has held out for the release of terrorists jailed in countries other than Israel. DEBKAfileÂ’s military sources report that conditions in Gaza have become so hazardous that Egyptian intelligence minister Gen. Omar Suleiman has quietly asked the Israeli prime minister and defense minister for permission to deploy two Egyptian military companies in Gaza City to protect the Egyptian embassy and military mission. This is an extreme measure. Granting the request would bring Egyptian troops back to the Gaza Strip for the first time since 1967. For the moment, IsraelÂ’s leaders have been too busy fending off war criticism to deal with it.
The generals of the Egyptian military mission handle the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas and Fatah factions, including the elements holding the Israeli soldier Gilead Shalit who was kidnapped eleven months ago. The Egyptian officers spend their nights in Israeli hotels in Ashkelon or Tel Aviv as it is too risky to sleep in Gaza. Suleiman wants to make sure they are not ambushed and kidnapped on the road.
That the al Qaeda-Hamas kidnappers are not afraid to come out in the open and identify themselves as the abductors of Johnston and Shalit further bespeaks the breakdown of authority in the Gaza Strip. DEBKAfileÂ’s military sources note that no one seems capable of arresting the plunge, neither the Palestinian government, the Israelis, the Egyptians, the Americans, the British or the Europeans, even though the last four maintain a presence in the chaotic Palestinian territory