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Israel puts Gaza onus on Egypt

By Joshua Mitnick
January 25, 2008

Palestinian children yesterday played on a toppled barrier that used to separate the Gaza Strip from Egypt in the border town of Rafah.

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TEL AVIV — A top defense official yesterday said Israel wants to completely sever ties with the Gaza Strip, and called on Egypt to take responsibility after it allowed tens of thousands of Gazans to surge over its border.

Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai said Cairo, rather than Jerusalem, should now take responsibility for providing water, electricity and food supplies to the coastal strip.

"We need to understand that when Gaza is open on the other side, we are no longer responsible for it," Mr. Vilnai told Israel Army radio. "So we want to disconnect from it."

Palestinians poured across the border for a second day yesterday, stocking up on food, fuel and other commodities that had been running out in Gaza since Israel tightened its blockade last week in response to mounting rocket attacks.

Egyptian police and border guards made limited attempts to restore control of the frontier, patrolling access roads with sniffer dogs and banging batons on the hoods of cars to stop them from traveling deeper into Egypt, the Associated Press reported. Some Palestinians were urged to begin making their way back to Gaza with the goods they had purchased.

Analysts said the border chaos was creating tension between Israel and Egypt. Israel, worried that Gaza's Hamas rulers will smuggle weapons and money into Gaza while exporting militants to the Sinai Peninsula, is reportedly accusing the Egyptians of allowing the border chaos to spiral out of control.

Egypt, according to Israel television Channel 1 news, has in turn blamed the chaos on Israel's economic blockade of the Gaza Strip, and officials in Cairo rejected the notion they were now responsible for Gaza.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki was quoted as saying Egypt had not been approached by Israel about any change in the status of Gaza and that "the border will go back as normal."

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