PART OF BEING THE SOVEREIGN...:

Q&A: 'Hamas Curbing Groups Firing Rockets': Interview with Mohamed Bassyouni, head of the Egyptian Shura Council's Foreign Relations Committee (Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani, Jul 28, 2008, IPS)

Israel has kept its borders with the Hamas-run enclave hermetically sealed. Egypt, meanwhile, has kept its own border with the Gaza Strip closed, citing the absence of a formal border agreement. The precarious situation has led some critics to accuse Egypt of aiding Israel's ongoing siege of Gaza, which has resulted in untold hardships for the strip's roughly 1.5 million inhabitants.

IPS: Israel has repeatedly accused Palestinian resistance factions in the Gaza Strip of violating the truce by firing short-range rockets at targets in Israel. Is there any validity to these claims?

MB: Hamas is fully committed to following the terms of the ceasefire. But there are some smaller factions and individuals -- lacking direction and leadership -- that are not. Hamas has actually taken steps to detain those found firing missiles on Israel from the Gaza Strip.

There is a big difference between Hamas launching a missile salvo at targets in Israel and one of these rogue groups or individuals firing off a couple of rockets. Egypt has requested that Israel distinguish between the two and respect the terms of the tahdia in order to make progress on subsequent phases of the agreement.

...is that Hamas needs to put down the other groups and treat Egypt like an enemy.

Posted by Orrin Judd at July 28, 2008 9:37 AM