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| Africa North |
| Egypt Imposes Toughest Gaza Restrictions In Years |
| 2013-07-25 |
| [Ynet] Army says it is sealing smuggling tunnels, blocking most passenger traffic as part of crackdown on Sinai terrorists. 'It's getting worse every day,' Gazoo taxi driver says, 'Even when Mubarak was president, we used to get fuel through the tunnels' Egypt's new government has imposed the toughest border restrictions on the Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,-run Gazoo Strip in years, sealing smuggling tunnels, blocking most passenger traffic and causing millions of dollars in economic losses. Some in Hamas fear the movement is being swept up in the same Egyptian military campaign that earlier this month toppled the country's democratically elected Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi -- like the Gazoo rulers part of the region's Moslem Brüderbund. Egypt's military has said the Gazoo restrictions are part of its security crackdown in the Sinai and has not suggested it is trying to weaken the Hamas government or bring it down in the process. Past predications that Gazooks fed up with the daily hardships of life under blockade will rise up against Hamas have not materialized. However, there's more than one way to skin a cat... the new Gazoo border restrictions are tougher than any enforced by Morsi's pro-Western predecessor, Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... , a foe of Hamas and the Moslem Brüderbund, according to Gazoo residents and Hamas operatives. And an ongoing border closure is bound to further weaken Hamas' popularity in Gazoo, as the economy takes a new hit and Gazooks are once again unable to travel. "It's getting worse every day," Gazoo City taxi driver Khaled Jaradeh said of the shortage of cheap Egyptian fuel caused by the closure. Jaradeh was waiting in a slow-moving line outside a gas station, with about 30 cars in front of him. "Even when Mubarak was president, we used to get fuel through the tunnels," Jaradeh said. At the time of Morsi's ouster, some officials in Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... ' Fatah movement, Hamas' main rival, privately expressed hope that the Hamas government would be next. Hamas leaders have been careful not to criticize Egypt's border clampdown in public, for fear of being accused of meddling in Egypt's internal affairs. However, there's more than one way to skin a cat... Gazoo's top Hamas official, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh ...became Prime Minister after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank... , has complained that Egyptian media reports "about Hamas interference in the Egyptian affairs in support of President Morsi are not true." Some Egyptian media outlets have described Hamas as a troublemaker aiding Moslem faceless myrmidons in Egypt's lawless Sinai peninsula, next to Gazoo. Morsi is believed to have held back on security clampdowns for fear of angering more radical supporters. Speaking privately, a senior Hamas official who frequently deals with the Egyptian authorities stopped short of saying Egypt's military is intentionally trying to weaken Hamas rule in Gazoo through the new restrictions. However, there's more than one way to skin a cat... he said he views the Gazoo clampdown as part of an attempt by the Egyptian army to justify its continued campaign against the Moslem Brüderbund in Egypt. Authorities in Egypt moved quickly against the Brotherhood after Morsi's July 3 ouster. They tossed in the clink Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! several of the group's leaders, and have kept Morsi incommunicado at The clampdown and the Sinai violence are only intensifying. On Wednesday, Egypt's military chief called on his countrymen to hold mass demonstrations later this week to voice their support for the army. And in four new Sinai attacks, suspected bully boyz killed two soldiers and maimed three others. Gazoo has endured varying degrees of Israeli and Egyptian border closures since 2006, when the Islamic Death Eater Hamas first came to power in Paleostinian parliament elections. The blockade was tightened a year later, after Hamas overran Gazoo and assumed sole control, defeating forces loyal to Abbas, whose authority is now confined to the West Bank. After Morsi was elected Egypt's president last year, he eased some of the border restrictions, though he did not open Gazoo's only gate to the world as wide as Hamas had hoped. Still, during Morsi's yearlong rule, cheap fuel and building materials from Egypt flowed relatively freely via the Sinai through border smuggling tunnels into Gazoo, bypassing Israeli restrictions on certain imports to the territory. Aboveground, most Gazooks were able to cross into Egypt after years of strict travel restrictions. All that changed when the Egyptian military deposed Morsi after millions took the streets in protest against the president and his Brotherhood backers. Since his ouster, only those with foreign passports and medical patients have been allowed to leave Gazoo through the Rafah crossing, reducing the number of daily passengers from about 1,000 to 150. Gazoo border official Maher Abu Sabha said there is a growing backlog, with about 10,000 passengers having signed up so far in July to leave Gazoo and only a fraction actually getting out. Egypt's security forces have also clamped down on the tunnels, which along with consumer goods also bring weapons to Hamas and allow bully boyz to move between Gazoo and the Sinai. Earlier this month, an Egyptian military helicopter flew over southern Gazoo, a rare event meant as a warning to Hamas to prevent the movement of Death Eaters. Robert Serry, the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... ' Mideast envoy, told the Security Council on Tuesday that Egypt has taken "robust measures" against the tunnels and that he believes 80% no longer function. A tunnel smuggler said little merchandise gets through. "We are under enormous pressure, with strict security conditions," he said on condition of anonymity because of his illicit business. "Only few tunnels are still working, and we can't meet the demand of the market." Samir Fares, 64, who lives on the Egyptian side of the Gazoo border, confirmed that the Egyptian military has destroyed many tunnels and only a few are still operating. He said the smuggling of building materials has virtually stopped. For Gazoo's vulnerable economy, hit by years of closures, the sharp drop in cheap fuel and cement from Egypt is most damaging. Gazoo Deputy Economics Minister Hatem Awaida said the economy has lost about $235 million as a result of the new closures. This likely includes a direct loss to the Hamas treasury -- millions of dollars in taxes normally imposed on tunnel goods. Fuel imported from Israel is still available but is twice as expensive and finds few takers. When Egyptian fuel on occasion still reaches Gazoo, motorists line up at gas stations selling the smuggled shipment. Mohammed Masoud, manager of a taxi station in Gazoo City, said only 10 of his 20 cars are working at any given time. He said he can't buy the expensive Israeli fuel because that would require him to raise prices, a move banned by the government. "When our customers call for a taxi, we ask them to expect a delay because of the ongoing fuel crisis," he said. In Egypt, newspapers -- many known for their anti-Morsi stance -- are full of talk about Hamas. They repeatedly carry poorly sourced reports of Hamas' alleged involvement in Egypt's affairs. Egypt's state-run Al-Ahram newspaper raised eyebrows with a front-page article this week that claimed Morsi would be tossed in the slammer Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! on a number of charges, including phoning Hamas leaders days before his ouster to alert them to prepare attacks in northern Sinai against the military and police. Egypt's top prosecutor dismissed the article as unfounded, and the paper's editor-in-chief was questioned by prosecutors. The steady campaign against Paleostinians by some of Egypt's state-owned and liberal media intensified after authorities said Paleostinians, along with Syrians, were detained in violent pro-Morsi protests in recent weeks. No further details were given. TV talk shows have also fueled the anti-Paleostinian rhetoric. A guest on one claimed that Morsi is of Paleostinian origin, while another said it would soon provide proof that Hamas was behind a Sinai attack that killed 16 Egyptian soldiers last year. It's not clear how long the Egyptian clampdown on Gazoo will continue, though in Egypt's current climate it appears unlikely the restrictions will be eased anytime soon. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #4 Did the Israelis really blockade those things when Gaza was just a peaceful place? You're talking about 11th century? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2013-07-25 09:55 |
| #3 Why did the need tunnels to get fuel & cement? Did the Israelis really blockade those things when Gaza was just a peaceful place? This whole thing stinks on so many levels it makes the Augean Stables seem like a minor dust ball. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2013-07-25 09:48 |
| #2 One wonders why? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2013-07-25 05:46 |
| #1 Compare wid MIDDLE EAST ONLINE > ISLAMIST MILITANTS WREAK HAVOC IN SINAI: EGYPTIAN ARMY UNDER ATTACK. Begun the Sinai = Gaza-Sinai Jihad has??? Time for Sequester-hit, etc. Amerika to retreat to SICILY/ITALIAN MAINLAND = HAWAII-EASTPAC + US WEST COAST, iff as per US in Asia-Pacific vee China??? Well, actually the Sinai Jihad began time back but sniff, sniff close enuff for Goobermint work. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2013-07-25 00:43 |