Uh Boy, This Is Nasty.........

Look like Egypt is strangling Gazans by keeping the border mostly closed and refusing the majority of aid through because it has tied the border opening to forcing Hamas to reconcile with Fatah and to return Shalit. My view is this is tantamount to collaboration with Israel in humanitarian war crimes. And moreover, it is an attempt to force through a unity deal by blackmailing one side at the behest and benefit of the other. My view is that Egypt can no longer be seen as an innocent neutral party to be involved in overseeing any more "negotiations" between the two Palestinian main parties. Perhaps it's time for another Arab state to step forward and assume the position of being a real facilitator to negotiations and uphold the neutral position so that a real deal can emerge, rather than one made under duress and by blackmailing a civilian population who are starving, freezing and in need of help.

link Zaki, who was quoted in the Egyptian newspaper Al Masry al Youm, did not make it clear whether this Egyptian position was coordinated with Israel. Nor was he clear on whether the emerging deal for Gilad Shalit is indeed a comprehensive one that would not only bring the abducted soldier home, but would also grant a normal life to Gaza's inhabitants. Perhaps this was one of the things Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak discussed at their meeting yesterday.

However, this is the first time Egypt has presented its two conditions for opening the border crossings and has linked the Shalit deal to the Palestinian reconciliation agreement.

Egyptian citizens in both parts of Rafah, a town that straddles the border, complain that fuel prices have already risen significantly and that without the tunnels, Gaza will suffer a serious shortage of fuel for heating during the winter. Some of the critics equate Egypt with Israel and accuse it of collaborating with "the Zionist state" against Gaza.