Bombs fell over the Gaza Strip once again last night, as Israel sought retribution for an attack in the southern resort town of Eilat on a bus full of Israeli soldiers that left 8 dead. Israeli fighter jets dropped bombs during the night, targeting the tunnels that run under the border between the Egyptian-held Sinai and Gaza, as skirmishes broke out along the Israel-Egypt border.
Security forces in the Sinai Peninsula said militants crossed into Egypt from Israel as an Israeli helicopter tracked them and opened fire when the militants crossed the border. Some Egyptian security forces were killed, although it is not clear if the militants or the helicopter killed them. The militants had their faces covered and their affiliation has not been identified in reports. According to reports from sources in Egypt, Egyptian forces are currently being moved to the border with orders to shoot to kill anyone who tries to cross.
It is unclear how many were killed overnight, with reports ranging from three to seven Egyptian soldiers and at least six Palestinians, including the leader of the Popular Resistance Committees, a group that some Israeli officials say they hold responsible for the attacks. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak attributed the attacks to elements emanating from the Gaza Strip, while Israel Defense Forces (IDF) tactical reports stated that the attacks had been launched from across Israel’s border with Egypt along the Sinai Peninsula.
Egyptian officials dismissed the idea that the assailants had crossed from Sinai through a network of tunnels under the border. “There is no evidence that any people entered Israel from Egypt,” said Major General Abdel Wahab Mabrouk, the governor of northern Sinai. “Maybe the attackers came from Israel,” implying a belief held among many Arabs across the region that Israel may have staged the attack in order to provide an excuse to bomb the Sinai tunnels and provoke a rematch of the 1967 war. So far, no one has taken responsibility for the attacks in Eilat.
Israel has long pointed to the tunnels as a trafficking route for guns, missiles, and terrorists, although Palestinian activists claim that the strict embargo on Gaza leaves the people with no choice but to smuggle food, medicine, and other survival supplies through the tunnels, rather than weapons.
The accusations only add to the tensions between Israel and the new government in Egypt. Under former President Mubarak, a peace deal brokered by the US that included substantial American aid funding to both sides held the peace between the two states, but resentment of Israeli policies toward Palestinians and Arab Israelis festered among Egyptians in the streets. With the military currently in control of Egypt, American funding flowing to the armed forces may be able to keep the peace for now, but the latest provocation could flare emotions when Egyptians go to the polls to elect a new government.
An immediate outcry among Egyptians was expressed in demonstrations at the Israeli Embassy in Cairo and more demonstrations planned throughout Cairo at the end of Friday prayers.
In Gaza, the Israeli bombing may that prompt Hamas to dispense with its unilateral cease-fire that has been in place since the violent 2009 war and launch new attacks on Israel, sparking another Israel-Gaza War. The new crisis new hardly helps the agenda of President Abbas and the Palestinian Authority to seek U.N. recognition of Palestinian statehood on the 1967 lines. With a seeming demonstration that they have no control over events in Gaza – a substantial part of the state they are claiming – despite the recent negotiations between Hamas and Fatah, it could mean doom for an already long-shot chance at next month’s U.N. General Assembly. In fact, the right-wing Israeli government coalition headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can be expected to point to this as proof that the pre-1967 Israeli borders are, as he claims, indefensible.
The tensions underlying the recent conflict, as all the other conflicts in the region, have been festering for years, continually fed with blood on all sides. It has yet to be seen what the next episode in this bloody game will be.
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Bombs Rain on Gaza, While Egyptian Tempers Flare
August 19, 2011
Bombs fell over the Gaza Strip once again last night, as Israel sought retribution for an attack in the southern resort town of Eilat on a bus full of Israeli soldiers that left 8 dead. Israeli fighter jets dropped bombs during the night, targeting the tunnels that run under the border between the Egyptian-held Sinai and Gaza, as skirmishes broke out along the Israel-Egypt border.
Security forces in the Sinai Peninsula said militants crossed into Egypt from Israel as an Israeli helicopter tracked them and opened fire when the militants crossed the border. Some Egyptian security forces were killed, although it is not clear if the militants or the helicopter killed them. The militants had their faces covered and their affiliation has not been identified in reports. According to reports from sources in Egypt, Egyptian forces are currently being moved to the border with orders to shoot to kill anyone who tries to cross.
It is unclear how many were killed overnight, with reports ranging from three to seven Egyptian soldiers and at least six Palestinians, including the leader of the Popular Resistance Committees, a group that some Israeli officials say they hold responsible for the attacks. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak attributed the attacks to elements emanating from the Gaza Strip, while Israel Defense Forces (IDF) tactical reports stated that the attacks had been launched from across Israel’s border with Egypt along the Sinai Peninsula.
Egyptian officials dismissed the idea that the assailants had crossed from Sinai through a network of tunnels under the border. “There is no evidence that any people entered Israel from Egypt,” said Major General Abdel Wahab Mabrouk, the governor of northern Sinai. “Maybe the attackers came from Israel,” implying a belief held among many Arabs across the region that Israel may have staged the attack in order to provide an excuse to bomb the Sinai tunnels and provoke a rematch of the 1967 war. So far, no one has taken responsibility for the attacks in Eilat.
Israel has long pointed to the tunnels as a trafficking route for guns, missiles, and terrorists, although Palestinian activists claim that the strict embargo on Gaza leaves the people with no choice but to smuggle food, medicine, and other survival supplies through the tunnels, rather than weapons.
The accusations only add to the tensions between Israel and the new government in Egypt. Under former President Mubarak, a peace deal brokered by the US that included substantial American aid funding to both sides held the peace between the two states, but resentment of Israeli policies toward Palestinians and Arab Israelis festered among Egyptians in the streets. With the military currently in control of Egypt, American funding flowing to the armed forces may be able to keep the peace for now, but the latest provocation could flare emotions when Egyptians go to the polls to elect a new government.
An immediate outcry among Egyptians was expressed in demonstrations at the Israeli Embassy in Cairo and more demonstrations planned throughout Cairo at the end of Friday prayers.
In Gaza, the Israeli bombing may that prompt Hamas to dispense with its unilateral cease-fire that has been in place since the violent 2009 war and launch new attacks on Israel, sparking another Israel-Gaza War. The new crisis new hardly helps the agenda of President Abbas and the Palestinian Authority to seek U.N. recognition of Palestinian statehood on the 1967 lines. With a seeming demonstration that they have no control over events in Gaza – a substantial part of the state they are claiming – despite the recent negotiations between Hamas and Fatah, it could mean doom for an already long-shot chance at next month’s U.N. General Assembly. In fact, the right-wing Israeli government coalition headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can be expected to point to this as proof that the pre-1967 Israeli borders are, as he claims, indefensible.
The tensions underlying the recent conflict, as all the other conflicts in the region, have been festering for years, continually fed with blood on all sides. It has yet to be seen what the next episode in this bloody game will be.
