Khaled Abu Toameh: Gaza: Egypt Responsible For Weapons Shortage
President Sisi has now decided to combat Hamas's smuggling tunnels also through legal means. This week, he signed a new law, according to which anyone who digs a tunnel along Egypt's borders would face life imprisonment.HRW 'Lies' About Abuse of Palestinian Minors at Jewish Farms
The new law came amid reports that some anti-government jihadists from Sinai had received medical treatment in hospitals inside the Gaza Strip. The reports confirm fears of Egyptian government officials that the jihadists in Sinai are working together with Hamas to undermine security and stability in Egypt.
The new law followed another bloody day, when five people were killed and some 30 injured in bomb blasts outside a security installation, in the Sinai town of El Arish. Earlier, another terrorist attack on security forces left seven soldiers killed near Sheikh Zuweid, a town in northern Sinai near the Gaza Strip border.
Sisi has shown real guts and determination in his war to drain the swamps of terrorists. The tough measures he has taken along the border with the Gaza Strip have proven to be even more effective than Israel's military operations against the smuggling tunnels.
That the Gaza Strip is facing a weapons shortage is good news not only for Israel and Egypt, but also for the Palestinians living there.
It is hard to see how Hamas will rush into another military confrontation with Israel -- where Palestinians would once again pay a heavy price -- at a time when Sisi's army is working around the clock to destroy smuggling tunnels, and the prices of rifles and bullets in the Gaza Strip are skyrocketing.
The Jordan Valley regional committee head rejected reports on Monday by the leftist NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW), which claimed that Palestinian Arab children were being abused working on Jewish farms in the Jordan Valley.Fatah is the Problem
HRW alleged that "hundreds of children," some as young as 11, work for low wages and in "hazardous" conditions in Jewish farms.
"Israel's settlements are profiting from rights abuses against Palestinian children," HRW's Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson claimed. "Children from communities impoverished by Israel's discrimination and settlement policies are dropping out of school and taking on dangerous work because they feel they have no alternatives, while Israel turns a blind eye."
The report is based on the statements of 38 Palestinian Arab children and 12 adults who said they worked on Jewish farms, with it claimed that minors worked over 60 hours a week at times.
Jordan Valley head David Elhayani, himself a former farmer, thoroughly debunked the claims while speaking with AFP.
"They've made up lies. The entire goal of this organization (HRW) is to sully Israel's image. If they'd show me a farmer employing a child, I'd report it to police immediately," said Elhayani.
Hamas is Fatah without the act, without the sheep's clothing. Fatah is Hamas with political spin. Hamas is the stick, Fatah is the carrot. The goal is only Jihad, not the betterment of their people. The conquest of all land West of the River Jordan, without real concern over what happens to the people after their benefactors in Israel are gone.
But the people know. There have been reports of a dual sentiment among individuals who were interviewed. They want the PA to take over, yet they also want to be a part of Israel. Why is that contradictory phenomenon occurring?
Innocent Palestinians Arabs in the territories want the PA to be successful ,but mainly for sentimental reasons. Like someone voting for a person of their race who runs for political office, even if they do not like their policies. The media does not report there is palpable fear in Arabs of the territories in their daily existence under Fatah rule and also over what happens the day after a potential Israeli withdrawal. On such a day, when the only government that truly is concerned for their social welfare, Israel, is no longer part of the picture.
Palestinian Arabs are keeping their heads low and trying to stay out of the way of the Palestinian Authority. They turn to their local leaders and hope they need not rely on the corrupt and vindictive national leadership of Fatah's Palestinian Authority.