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Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Hamas paranoia: Egypt opened Rafah to "trap" Hamas officials

I've mentioned the recent detention of a Hamas security chief in Egypt (auto-translated as Mohamed Debabeche.)

Now Hamas says that it was all a trap:
Hamas accused Cairo Tuesday of using the Rafah crossing's opening to detain party officials as they travel abroad via Egypt following the detention of the Gaza government's intelligence chief in Cairo.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum told reporters that opening the border to trap Hamas officials was "unacceptable and inappropriate," following the detention of General Security Service Commander Muhammad Dabaeesh, also known as Abu Radwan, at the Cairo International Airport.
Egypt's move seems to have been as a way to pressure Hamas to hand over the person who shot and killed an Egyptian policeman during the Viva Palestina protests last December, as Dabaeesh is the killer's boss.