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<div class="entry-date">October 02, 2013<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/10/02/gaza-crushed-between-israel-and-egypt/">http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/10/02/gaza-crushed-between-israel-and-egypt/</a><br>
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<div class="subheadlinestyle"><big><b>Partners in Crime</b></big></div>
<h1 class="article-title">Gaza: Crushed Between Israel and Egypt</h1>
<div class="mainauthorstyle">by JONATHAN COOK</div>
<div class="main-text"><big> </big>
<p><big><big><em>Nazareth.</em></big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>The furore over the recent chemical weapons attack in
Syria has overshadowed disturbing events to the south, as Egypt’s
generals wage a quiet war of attrition against the Hamas leadership in
Gaza.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Hamas has found itself increasingly isolated, politically
and geographically, since the Egyptian army ousted the country’s first
democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi, in early July.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Hamas is paying the price for its close ties to Egypt’s
Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamic movement that briefly took power
through the ballot box following the revolutionary protests that
toppled dictator Hosni Mubarak in 2011.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Since the army launched its coup three months ago, jailing
the Brotherhood’s leadership and last week outlawing the movement’s
activities and freezing its assets, Hamas has become a convenient
scapegoat for all signs of unrest.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Hamas is blamed for the rise of militant Islamic groups in
the Sinai, many drawn from disgruntled local Bedouin tribes, which have
been attacking soldiers, government institutions and shipping through
the Suez canal. The army claims a third of the Islamists it has killed
in recent operations originated from Gaza.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>At an army press conference last month, several
Palestinians “confessed” to smuggling arms from Gaza into Sinai, while
an Egyptian commander, Ahmed Mohammed Ali, accused Hamas of “targeting
the Egyptian army through ambushes.”</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>The Egyptian media have even tied Hamas to a car bombing
in Cairo last month which nearly claimed the life of the new interior
minister, Mohammed Ibrahim.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Lurking in the shadows is the army’s fear that, should the
suppressed Muslim Brotherhood choose the path of violence, it may find
a useful ally in a strong Hamas.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>A crackdown on the Palestinian Islamic movement has been
all but inevitable, and on a scale even Mr Mubarak would have shrunk
from. The Egyptian army has intensified the blockade along Egypt’s
single short border with Gaza, replicating that imposed by Israel along
the other three.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Over the past weeks, the army has destroyed hundreds of
tunnels through which Palestinians smuggle fuel and other necessities
in short supply because of Israel’s siege.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Egypt has bulldozed homes on its side to establish a
“buffer zone”, as Israel did inside Gaza a decade ago when it still
occupied the enclave directly, to prevent more tunnels being dug.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>That has plunged Gaza’s population into hardship, and
dealt a harsh blow to the tax revenues Hamas raises on the tunnel
trade. Unemployment is rocketing and severe fuel shortages mean even
longer power cuts.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Similarly, Gaza’s border crossing with Egypt at Rafah –
the only access to the outside for most students, medical patients and
business people – is now rarely opened, even to the Hamas leadership.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>And the Egyptian navy has been hounding Palestinians
trying to fish off Gaza’s coast, in a zone already tightly delimited by
Israel. Egypt has been firing at boats and arresting crews close to its
territorial waters, citing security.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Fittingly, a recent cartoon in a Hamas newspaper showed
Gaza squeezed between pincers – one arm Israel, the other Egypt. Sami
Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesperson, was recently quoted saying Egypt was
“trying to outmatch the Israelis in tormenting and starving our people”.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Hamas is short of regional allies. Its leader Khaled
Meshal fled his Syrian base early in the civil war, alienating Iran in
the process. Other recent supporters, such as Turkey and Qatar, are
also keeping their distance.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Hamas fears mounting discontent in Gaza, and particularly
a demonstration planned for November modelled on this summer’s mass
protests in Egypt that helped to bring down Morsi and the Muslim
Brotherhood.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Hamas’ political rival, Fatah – and the Palestinian
Authority, based in the West Bank – are reported to be behind the new
protest movement.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>The prolonged efforts by Fatah and Hamas to strike a unity
deal are now a distant memory. In late August the PA annnounced it
would soon be taking “painful decisions” about Hamas, assumed to be a
reference to declaring it a “rogue entity” and thereby cutting off
funding.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>The PA sees in Hamas’ isolation and its own renewed ties
to the Egyptian leadership a chance to take back Gaza.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>As ever, Israel is far from an innocent bystander.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>After the unsettling period of Muslim Brotherhood rule,
the Egyptian and Israeli armies – their strategic interests always
closely aligned – have restored security cooperation. According to
media reports, Israel even lobbied Washington following the July coup
to ensure Egypt continued to receive generous US aid handouts – as with
Israel, mostly in the form of military assistance.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Israel has turned a blind eye to Egypt pouring troops, as
well as tanks and helicopters, into Sinai in violation of the 1979
peace treaty. Israel would rather Egypt mop up the Islamist threat on
their shared doorstep.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>The destruction of the tunnels, meanwhile, has sealed off
the main conduit by which Hamas armed itself against future Israeli
attacks.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Israel is also delighted to see Fatah and Hamas sapping
their energies in manoeuvring against each other. Political unity would
have strengthened the Palestinians’ case with the international
community; divided, they can be easily played off against the other.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>That cynical game is in full swing. A week ago Israel
agreed for the first time in six years to allow building materials into
Gaza for private construction, and to let in more fuel. A newly
approved pipe will double the water supply to Gaza.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>These measures are designed to bolster the PA’s image in
Gaza, as payback for returning to the current futile negotiations, and
undermine support for Hamas.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>With Egypt joining the blockade, Israel now has much
firmer control over what goes in and out, allowing it to punish Hamas
while improving its image abroad by being generous with “humanitarian”
items for the wider population.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big>Gaza is dependent again on Israel’s good favour. But even
Israeli analysts admit the situation is far from stable. Sooner or
later, something must give. And Hamas may not be the only ones caught
in the storm.</big></big></p>
<big><big></big></big>
<p><big><big><i><em><em><em><strong>Jonathan Cook</strong> won the
Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. His latest books are “<a
href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0745327540/counterpunchmaga"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.amazon.com']);">Israel
and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the
Middle East”</a> (Pluto Press) and “<a
href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1848130317/counterpunchmaga"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.amazon.com']);">Disappearing
Palestine: Israel’s Experiments in Human Despair</a>” (Zed Books). </em></em><em>His
new website is <a href="http://www.jonathan-cook.net/"
onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://www.jonathan-cook.net']);">www.jonathan-cook.net</a>.</em></em></i></big></big></p>
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