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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Picture of the Day - Hamas wins

















The Israeli plan was to use the forced deprivation in Gaza to undermine Hamas.

Instead, Hamas symbolically tore down the wall separating Gazans from their Arab neighbor.

(A Palestinian man celebrates as heavy equipment destroys a section of the border wall between the Gaza Strip and Egypt January 23, 2008. Palestinian militants blew up part of the wall between Gaza and Egypt on Wednesday, and tens of thousands of Palestinians poured into Egypt to stock up on food and fuel in short supply due to an Israeli blockade. (REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa))

(PS. They tore down large sections of this barrier.)

posted by mikevotes at 8:34 AM

14 Comments:

  • Sounds like the Egyptian border guards had the good sense, and/or decency, not to open fire.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:42 AM  

  • Agreed. But what is Egypt's position on this boarder breach? Do they turn a blind eye? Do they legitimize it as an official now-open crossing? Do they clamp down?

    Interesting.

    By Blogger -epm, at 9:54 AM  

  • Sometimes getting Arabs to act like Westerners is like herding cats. They do love their freedom.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:58 AM  

  • -epm I'm not sure how Mubarak will explain this to his paymasters. He'll blame border guards most likely. The Israelis will demand a better fence. A very interesting development...hard to say what happens next.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:07 AM  

  • The latest from CNN International is that the Egyptians said they'd leave the border open as long as the Israelis maintain the blockade.

    As to the Egyptian early response, they didn't have the forces on the border to try and stop this. My guess is they'll just throw up their hands towards the US.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 11:24 AM  

  • Wait a minute! They're supposed to be suffering from the mighty and powerful IDF!!! That's not fair!

    They're probably going to drop thousands of bomblets on those areas and turn them into deathtraps for starving children and women.

    "Collective Punishment it's the taste of a whole new generation."

    By Blogger matt, at 2:09 PM  

  • There's really only highly active paths for the Israelis here.

    They could bomb the border and kill civilians, try to re enter and block this border many miles long....

    There's really not a practical option, especially with the Egyptians tacitly allowing it.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 3:37 PM  

  • This could be the excuse Israel needs to close Gaza off completely. Or make it part of Egypt.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:16 PM  

  • Does Egypt want Gaza? Wouldn't that take away the buffer that Gaza provides from Egypt.

    I see them bombing the hell out of it and killing innocents. Nothing has ever stopped the IDF from doing that before why would they feel 'hampered' now?

    By Blogger matt, at 9:24 PM  

  • Sounds very possible....drive the people into the Sinai and let the UN take care of them.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:41 PM  

  • One of Egypt's concerns in all this is that they will end up stuck with alot of the Palestinians that crossed today creating several problems.

    Beyond the refugee issue, there';s the destabilization issue as these Palestinians agitate for their cause in Egypt, not to mention the ISraeli/US pressure created by Palestinian militants aiding Gaza back across the border.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 10:32 PM  

  • I'd say the Palestinian problems started long before yesterday.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:13 AM  

  • Oh yeah. I oversimplified.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 8:20 AM  

  • They started when Irgun bombed the King David Hotel and killed British diplomats and foreign office staff. They were the last defense for the Israeli Arabs. After everyone else pulled out the holocaust of the Arabs in Israel began.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:54 AM  

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