August 24, 2005
CHANGING REALITY, SHIFTING RESPONSIBILITY:
Israel, Egypt reach deal on Gaza border (Associated Press, 8/24/05)
Israel and Egypt have reached an agreement to have 750 Egyptian troops take control of a volatile Egypt-Gaza border area from Israeli forces, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said Wednesday.Posted by Orrin Judd at August 24, 2005 10:12 AMThe transfer of border supervision to the Egyptians is key to ending Israel's 38-year occupation of the Gaza Strip. An agreement had been held up by Israeli concerns that weapons and explosives would be smuggled across the border from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula into Gaza once its troops leave as part of the Gaza evacuation.
Under the new agreement, Egyptian troops will be responsible for the security tasks Israeli soldiers used to conduct on the Gaza side of the border.
"This agreement ultimately gives comprehensive - and I emphasize comprehensive - responsibility to the Egyptians regarding the prevention of weapons smuggling in the Philadelphi corridor in tunnels and above ground, into the Gaza Strip," Mofaz told Army Radio.
So what happens when the first rocket comes over the border into Israel?
Posted by: Rick T. at August 24, 2005 1:13 PMThat's what I've been posting about for weeks. No one seems to want to discuss that.
Posted by: Annoying Old Guy at August 24, 2005 1:32 PMRick:
Nothing. There'll still be a residual terror problem. eventually though a series of such attacks that the state of Palestine failed to stop would be a pretext for war and Israel could respond in a way it couldn't while it was a occuppying force. That's always been one of the main reasons to make them accept statehood and why they haven't wanted it.
Posted by: oj at August 24, 2005 3:00 PMSketchy reasoning. Even before 1967 there were various attacks on Israel similar to what is discussed, and the world always kept asking the Israelis to ignore it.
And even if the world doesn't gainsay it, what do the Israelis do after they invade? Occupy it again? Unilaterally annex land and clear out the Palestinians on it? Impose reparations? All such measures would be opposed by the world community.
The standard Arab reaction is to always roll the bones when it comes to war with Israel, and then complain once they lose. The only way to peace is to decisively punish them for every war so they realize there is a real and permanent cost to it.
Posted by: Chris Durnell at August 24, 2005 4:51 PMMaybe what Israel got in return for giving up Gaza is a non-interference promise from the president. Perhaps for the first time, they'll be allowed to take matters into their own hands and UN injunctions be damned.
Posted by: erp at August 24, 2005 7:28 PMNo, they have to give them a contiguous state.
Posted by: oj at August 24, 2005 8:09 PMOne suspects there is an open channel between the Egyptian army and the IDF, which the Palestinians dare not complain about.
Posted by: jim hamlen at August 24, 2005 10:26 PMChris Durnell:
I'm not sure that the "world community" matters anymore, with regards to Israel.
The USSR is no more, so there's no reflexive anti-American-ally movement from a superpower, and Europe is circling the drain; they can huff and puff, but they refuse to pay for the ability to blow anything down.
The Arab world is a standing joke, and even LESS able to confront Israel militarily than at any time in the past.
What, really, is to prevent the Israelis from massive retaliation attacks, except their own decency, and a desire to retain U.S. foreign aid ?
Africa ?
China ?
Trade with Europe. The Israeli economy is heavily dependent on that, much more so than trade with the USA.
Posted by: Annoying Old Guy at August 25, 2005 11:21 AMthere's always other folks to trade with.
Posted by: oj at August 25, 2005 12:10 PM