Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Egypt not easing blockade all that much...

While Egypt has announced that they will reopen the border at Rafah with the Gaza Strip, there's still some things that the media isn't exactly saying about Egypt and Gaza at the moment.

First the AP:
Egypt will not allow in large cargo shipments or construction material because the terminal is designed primarily as a crossing for travelers, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Additional commentary from Honest Reporting:
1. Gaza's open to grandstanding politicians and activists willing to travel overland via Egypt. Grip-and-grin solidarity photos with Hamas are valuable in Turkey's domestic political arena. And those images will be bad news for Mahmoud Abbas and the peace process.
2. The smuggling industry and the income Hamas makes off of tunnel license fees will take a hit now that Palestinians are shopping on the Egyptian side of the border.
3. Oh yeah, it's a lot harder for people to argue that Israel continues to occupy Gaza by virtue of its control over the borders.

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