Yesterday, hundreds of Egyptians gathered at the Rafah border crossing to protest Donald Trump's plan to allow Gazans to enter Egypt if they want to.
Video and photos from the scene show that this was staged by the Egyptian government, and hardly the spontaneous popular demonstration Arabic media is pretending it was.
But even their
chants indicated that their concern wasn't Palestinian steadfastness but the sanctity of Egypt's borders: ""With our bodies standing, we protect our borders from displacement. The Egyptian people are a great people. No, no to displacement."
It is clear that the Egyptian government and other political parties were behind the rallies. First of all, just look at all the professionally printed banners that feature Egypt's president:
Furthermore, they arrived in Rafah on chartered buses. Given Egypt's economy, there is no way the people who attended paid for the privilege to go to Rafah.
The demonstrations are a means to spook Americans that if somehow some Palestinians would enter Egypt it would destabilize the region.
After all, everyone is afraid of the
mythical "Arab street." The impression they want to give is that Trump may be able to bully President Sisi but he cannot control the masses!
So they control the masses.