|
Egypt threatens to "break legs" of Palestinians who breach Border |
|
|
|
|
Friday, 08 February 2008 |
Egypt said on Thursday it would no longer tolerate Palestinians infiltrating
the country from the Gaza Strip, and threatened to break the legs of anyone
crossing the Rafah border illegally.
In a televised speech, Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said his country only allowed Palestinians to cross the border when the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip raised fears of a humanitarian crisis.
"Anyone who breaches the border will have their legs broken," Egyptian Foreign
Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit was quoted as saying by the official MENA news agency on public television overnight.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians living in the impoverished Gaza Strip,
subjected to a punishing Israeli blockade, crossed freely into Egypt after
the border barriers were blown apart late last month. Analysts and relief workers say that the act gave great hope to a distressed Gaza population.
Abul Gheit said Egypt had allowed the Palestinians to flood across the border for humanitarian reasons only.
He blamed Israel for the situation in Gaza, accusing the Jewish state of
imposing collective punishment on the territory, home to 1.5 million
Palestinians, in response to rocket attacks by militants.
Abul Gheit also reproached Hamas for firing rockets into Israel, describing the
standoff as a "laughable caricature."
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum, responding to the remarks, said that "rather than
criticise the resistance one should provide aid to the resistance and to the
Palestinian people, because it defends the entire Islamic nation."
Egyptian and Hamas forces, which seized armed control of the Gaza Strip in
mid-June, resealed the Rafah border last week.
MENA also quoted Egypt's Defence Minister Mohammed Hussein Tantawi as saying
that no one was allowed to violate national security and that Egypt has a
military arsenal "that conforms with the most modern technology in the world."
Egypt is the second largest recipient of United States military aid after
Israel.
Comments posted are the sole opinion of the author and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of AIM. |
