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Tuesday, August 07, 2012

Israel re-opens crossing, but Egypt keeps Rafah closed

Who is besieging Gaza again?
According to various security and official sources, in his meetings with top security, intelligence and military aides this morning, Morsi had to succumb to their suggestions of imposing a tight security grip on the borders with Gaza.

Morsi reluctantly agreed to shut down the Rafah crossing point – the only non-Israeli controlled border for the otherwise enclosed and besieged Gaza.

The president had recently promised Hamas leaders, effectively in control of Gaza since 2007 away from the clout of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, to reduce the tough security measures on the borders between Gaza and the Egyptian territories. Today, these and other relevant promises would have to be at least suspended.
But meanwhile, in the state whose civilians were actually was the target for the terrorists at the crossing:
A day and a half after the attack, Israeli defense officials decided to reopen the Kerem Shalom border crossing.
Keep in mind that the Kerem Shalom crossing itself was under mortar attack in an apparent attempt to distract Israel from the terror attack from Egypt, which is one of the reasons Egypt concluded that the attack was coordinated by Gazans.

Gaza officials confirm  that Kerem Shalom is open today.