Gap in Gaza's Ghetto

Palestinians may soon realize that the breach in the wall erected by Israel is more than a physical gap. It has evolved into a potential flash point that would affect both the Arab countries, Israel and Western democracies that supported its construction, passively or actively, and those that have benefited by using it against Israel without actually getting into a firefight in the process. The huge and ugly walls that enclosed the infertile desert strip on 3 sides, save for the Southern borders, have allowed Israel to cut off supplies of fuel, electricity, water and food; raising humanitarian issues against the state. The breach provided Palestinians a respite from being trapped and helpless, only to be replaced by an invisible wall that would have undefinable boundaries and invisible barriers, marked only by the pain of a bullet, the horror of an explosion, or the misery of isolation.

Israel has decided to disengage from Gaza, and it has proved to be a disastrous one. The decision is the logical conclusion of releasing its responsibility of providing services to a territory ruled by a group dedicated to its obliteration. But the disengagement took a turn for the worse. It eliminated Israel's capability to monitor and gather intelligence information in the area, resulting in the successful infiltration by Al Qaida. It has also allowed Iran to spread its reach and influence in another part of the Middle East, weakening western influence in the region. Iran's Ahmadinejad now hosts the Kuwaiti foreign minister and has seen the potential in the shift of the balance of power in the region. The increasing power and influence of Iran has made Saudi Arabia and Egypt wary of confronting their neighbor.

Since 1948, Egypt refused the setting up of a Palestinian state in Gaza but used it as a base for their Fedayeen raids on Israel. Their iron fisted policies prevented Palestinians from entering Egypt, but their main objective seemed to be the use of Palestinians as shield against counter attacks from Israel. In 1982, Egypt took back Sinai but refused Gaza, leaving it as Israel's responsibility. Throughout the 1980's and 1990's however, it used Gaza as a means to confront and tear down Israel's legitimacy while publicly espousing humanitarian needs. The entry of terrorists and new sets of arsenal inside Gaza resulting from the breach may pose problems for both Israel and Egypt. However, Egypt's policies over the last 6 decades will be poetic justice if they continue to refuse to take responsibility for the fate of the Palestinians. Had Egypt accepted Arab refugees as Israel did by accepting Jewish refugees from Arab countries, things would have been much more stable. Today, the aging Egyptian leader has become more vulnerable in this potentially explosive situation.

The Hamas group that controls Gaza's Palestinian population will undoubtedly get support from Egypt by way of supplies and consumer necessities in the form of humanitarian assistance, but it would be naive for the Hamas to believe that invoking Muslim Brotherhood would result in Egypt's embracing of Palestinians in the name of Arab Unity. Egypt will pay lip service, that's as far as it goes. There will never be an Egypt-Hamas Brotherhood Alliance for this poor distant cousin.

And where will this leave the rest of the Palestinians? The unrestrained enthusiasm that accompanied their temporary release from confinement will become a fond memory of momentary freedom under anarchistic circumstances. Their fate as a people will be demolished by interests more powerful than they are, the status in the barren strip will be elevated from mendicants to hostages, and their dream of a sovereign state will revert to a nightmare they may never awake from.

Haaarrrwwwwk...Twoooooph...Ting!