It seems that we’re going to have new neighbours pretty soon. Hamas is currently on its way to consolidate its power over the Gaza strip. Egypt, at least the government, is watching this with tremendous concern. My advice to the Egyptian government is to deploy thousands upon thousands of army troops on the Gaza borders and beneath. The borders there are pretty small and could be controlled. This will definitely have to be in agreement with Israel.
The decision by Israel not to arm Fatah was pretty understandable. It was clear that Fatah was on the verge of collapse in Gaza and any arms given to Fatah would end up in Hamas hands.
The coming days will be interesting to watch. Two countries are now emerging in Palestine: one ruled by Hamas and the other, the West Bank, controlled by Fatah.
One of my classmates from Maymester was Palestinian. He looks on with disgust every day about what happens over there. I just saw on the front page of Yahoo! News that “Hamas over runs key Fatah positions.”
Comment by Matt — June 14, 2007 @ 5:54 pm
Welcome back, man! Now I have an Egyptian blog to read again
This thing in Gaza is all Dick Cheney’s fault. We’ll be seeing him on the deck of an aircraft carrier down by the Suez Canal any day now.
Comment by Craig — June 14, 2007 @ 8:02 pm
BP,
It is wonderful to hear from you again.
You always have something interesting to say… Your last blog about being profiled as Egyptian in Egypt was astonishing! Who would have thought?!?!
Comment by O.Jeff — June 15, 2007 @ 2:37 am
Comment by Grantman — June 15, 2007 @ 2:47 am
Glad to see you back, BP.
As for “Hamastan”, I think that in the long run this just may be what the Palestinians need to wake up. If Mahmoud Abbas will get off his dead ass and take aggressive action against Hamas in the West Bank (which I think he will) at the end of the day we’ll have Gaza controlled by Hamas and the West Bank controlled by Fatah.
Fatah can then conslude a separate peace with Israel, renounce terrorism in both word AND deed, and start to receive a full flow of international aid again. The West Bank economy will start to revive.
Meanwhile, Gaza will be isolated from the world, will be feeling the full force of Israel’s military attention, and will continue to fester neck-deep in s**t. After a long enough time, the Palestinains in Gaza are going to want what the Palestinians in the West Bank are enjoying.
Comment by Dan — June 15, 2007 @ 4:06 am
The Palestinians managed to get occupied, AGAIN!
Comment by G — June 15, 2007 @ 7:21 am
Great to have you back, BP.
Two countries are now emerging in Palestine: one ruled by Hamas and the other, the West Bank, controlled by Fatah.
I hope that Fatah will be strong enough to hold on to power in the West Bank but I don’t think it’s a ‘given’.
The position of Egypt is critical in all this. The government seems to be keen on cracking down on all dissent but I imagine that increased influence for the Muslim Brotherhood is their biggest fear. Yours too I guess. What level of support does the MB have in Egypt?
The rise of Hamas in Gaza can also be seen as part of a general Middle Eastern picture. Iran and Syria would be more than happy if Hezbollah did likewise in Lebanon. I pray that doesn’t happen but fear that Lebanon may not be strong enough to withhold the pressure.
Sadly, we live in a world in which a clear line has been drawn and countries will have to decide which side of the line they stand on. That decision won’t come without pain.
On the plus side, if Fatah does hold the West Bank, then that part of Palestine could start on a path to normalisation (hopefully democratic) and prosperity. By determined action Egypt and Israel between them could halt arms shipments to Hamas and their military threat diminished.
I agree with Dan that the Gazans and going to want what the West Bankers will have but I that dissatisfaction will take just a few months in the fast moving and volatile world of the Middle East.
Regime change in Iran and new elections in The US might be handy.
Comment by Steve M — June 15, 2007 @ 9:35 am
BP,
So glad to have you back! It’s nice to have someone who is thoughtful and rational keeping us apprised of what is going on in your neck of the woods. I hope you will keep us updated often.
Comment by skeneogden — June 15, 2007 @ 5:08 pm
Of course, the BDS-afflicted psychopathic left must blame anyone and everyone except Hamas and the phony Arab policies that produced just one more catastrophe in the Levant.
Anyone who watched the BBC last night saw Hamas gunmen emptying their AK-47s and other automatic weapons into the air without a thought in their monkey brains about where the bullets would come down. The primitive savagery of the Arabs can’t think beyond their testoserone to the fact that 2 million lost souls live in the garbage dump that is Gaza, and some will get hit by said bullets. Happens all the time, but the BBC and Guardian never report where the bullets come down.
And a brain-dead bimbo Arab reporter in Beirut called the assassination of a Sunni judge “daring” as though killing someone and ten bystanders in an amusement park was an act of bravery. This bi-yotch with a mike then said that the Shi’ites and their allies were “chipping away” at the anti-Syrian majority in Lebanese parliament, as if seven murders in the last two years was some sort of parliamentary tactic.
I lived in the Middle East for almost a decade, speak and read Arabic, and there is little if anything more to hope from this savage medieval relic of a “civilization” that purports to be founded on a “religion of peace.” My lyin’ eyes just can’t see the peace that blowing up Sunni and Shi’ite places of worship in progressive acts of retaliation fits into the term “civilization.”
And any female Arab bimbo who describes a car-bomb murder in an amusement park as “daring” should be fired immediately. And “chipping away” is not a term literate people use for political murders.
These murderers are to blame, and the International Left sees them as allies, and so must finger-point at Bush, Blair, Israel, or even Global Warming before it attacks its terrorist friends on the left. Or violent reactionaries like Hamas, who are the friends of the NYT, WaPo, and other political elites who hate and oppose Bush with the irrational frenzy of true psychotic maniacs.
Comment by daveinboca — June 15, 2007 @ 6:29 pm
And any female Arab bimbo who describes a car-bomb murder in an amusement park as “daring” should be fired immediately.
I believe that she has been fired.
Comment by Steve M — June 15, 2007 @ 7:37 pm
Great to see you back!
Oh yea! The International Left, the useful idiots of the organized crime family alQueda/Hamas/Hezbollah. They are too stupid to realize the old adage,”the enemy of my enemy is my friend”!
Salaam eleikum, aww shucks.
Comment by Marzouq — June 15, 2007 @ 9:07 pm
It is going to get worse before it gets better.
Comment by Jack — June 17, 2007 @ 6:43 am
Much, much worse. Though the emergency government Abbas has nominated is… interesting. All of them, with the exception of the minister of interior, are technocrats. The PM, Fayyad, is one of the most capable (and sane) individuals living in the Palestinian Authority, bar none.
Now, if only said government actually survives…
Comment by Roman Kalik — June 18, 2007 @ 10:13 am