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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel wants to cut Gaza links after border breach
2008-01-25
Israel wants to cut its links with the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip after militants blasted open the territory's border with Egypt in defiance of an Israeli blockade, Israel's deputy defense minister said on Thursday.
"Those people are crazy! We want nuttin' to do with them!"
Didn't take long for the Israelis to seize the opportunity, did it? Makes you wonder if Moshe and Avi were looking the other way when Hamas snuck the jackhammers into Gazoo ...
Israel, which occupied the Gaza Strip in 1967, pulled troops and settlers out in 2005 but still controls its northern and eastern borders, airspace and coastal waters, and has imposed a blockade it says is meant to counter militant rocket fire. Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai said Israel wanted to wash its hands of Gaza altogether by handing over the supply of electricity, water and medicine to others. An Israeli security official said Egypt should take over responsibility. "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," Vilnai said.

Hundreds of Gazans on Thursday streamed past the flattened border wall into Egypt on foot or donkeys to stock up on goods in short supply, including sheep, motorcycles and medicine.

U.S. Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns said Washington was in touch with Cairo about the border and was willing to work with Egyptian authorities to restore order there, although he did not provide details on how that should be achieved. "Our view is that order should be restored to the border," Burns told reporters in Jerusalem, adding that services should quickly be re-established to Gaza's 1.5 million residents.

A spokesman for Hamas, which violently took control of Gaza after routing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah forces in June, rejected Vilnai's disengagement idea as an attempt to separate Gaza from the occupied West Bank.
Posted by:Fred

#1  Hundreds of Gazans on Thursday streamed past the flattened border wall into Egypt on foot or donkeys to stock up on goods in short supply, including sheep,

Deh goats, being clever headed for al arish
Posted by: Thomas Woof   2008-01-25 07:04  

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