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Saturday, August 11, 2012

Sinai attacks affected Gaza more than Egypt


Sinai attacks affected Gaza more than Egypt


Gaza, August 11, I cant help but express my disappointment in the Egyptian new regime for many reasons. Among those reasons is their failure of predicting Sinai attacks that left nearly 20 Egyptian soldiers dead, another reason is their immediate closure orders of Rafah border, Gazans only way out.

Right after Sinai attacks occurred, Egyptian state TV started airing quotes of an "anonymous" top Egyptian security official saying that those masked gunmen belong to an extremist group and they came from Gaza. 
His hasty "allegations" made it to Al Jazeera as you can see here:

I would like to ask this Egyptian top security official –who chose to remain anonymous- about the source of his allegations? How did he know for sure and so early that those extremists are from Gaza? And if he is very smart, why didn’t he predict or see this Sinai attacks coming?

Scenarios about the plot of the Sinai attacks were flying in the air. Some claimed that those gunmen were after abducting an Israeli soldiers while other sources said that they wanted to "infiltrate" Israel and wreck havoc if not practice a few "terror" attacks. Immediately after the attacks, Gaza Ministry of Interior announced shutting down the smuggling tunnels between Gaza and Egypt, then Egyptian helicopters bombed Rafah borderline and then Israel killed a Palestinian in Rafah after they "eliminated" the attack by blowing up the two vehicles that were commandeered by the attackers, they stole them after killing and injuring Egyptian soldiers who were breaking their fast.

Egyptian and Israeli sources said that the attack was accompanied by mortar shelling from Gaza on Kerem Shalom crossing on the borders between Egypt and Israel. However, no evidence was found of this shelling.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad rushed to condemn Sinai attacks and sending their support to Egypt. They both announced no relation to the attacks and accused Israeli mossad, just like Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt who also accused Israeli Mossad.

Israeli officials and ministers said in International media that those attacks should be a "wake-up call for Egypt to secure Sinai and eliminate terrorism" and denied any relation to the attacks. American officials rushed to back the Israeli claims. However, many Israeli officials and ministers and political commentators said on local radios and media outlets that Hamas wont benefit from such attacks and Israel is the only direction who benefits from such attacks.

I was disappointed to see Egyptians blame Gaza for the Sinai attacks and accused Morsi of being too loose specially after opening Rafah borders. They are delusional. Restrictions on Rafah border didn’t take place, Egypt only stopped deporting Palestinians. So how was Morsi loose with Rafah border? And where is the proof of Gaza being behind it? No one knows. Majority of Egyptians were smart enough to know that Gaza isn’t behind it, but some started a social media campaign against Palestinians.

Egyptian government closed Rafah border "indefinitely" and issued orders that prevent Palestinians from traveling through Cairo airport. In other words, Egypt just tightened the Israeli siege on Gaza and took away Gazan's only way out. Now, Gazans are trapped in Gaza with no hope of ever leaving. As if the restrictions that Egypt had before on Rafah border and the humiliation that they showered Palestinians with weren't enough.

Why Gaza isn’t behind Sinai attacks: Hamas will not ruin their relationship with Egypt and MB by executing such a juvenile attack that did nothing but kill innocent Egyptian soldiers while they were breaking their fast. Gaza was experiencing an improvement in the electricity crisis for a few days before Sinai attacks. Hamas will not benefit anything from the closure of Rafah border and Kerem Shalom border. If Hamas or Islamic Jihad did it why would they deny it? And if Gaza did it then where is the proof? Hamas will not benefit anything from closing all smuggling tunnels between Gaza and Egypt.

Why Israel did it: Israel knew about the attacks three days prior to them happening. They warned their residents in Sinai and Taba. Israel aims on causing tension between Hamas and Egypt so Morsi doesn’t ease the Israeli siege on Gaza. Israel aims on isolating Gaza and tightening its siege with every chance they get. Israel wants to confuse Muslim Brotherhood. Israel wants to pressure Egypt into strengthening the bond between them both on the claims of both countries suffering from "terrorism". Israel always craved Sinai and by this attack Israel will ask for more international forces to come into Sinai and maybe talk Egypt into letting them co-protect Sinai and the borders.  Everyone said that since MB is now controlling Egypt, Gaza and Egypt will have a stronger bond since Hamas controls Gaza, so Israel wanted to force MB out of that. Israel always wanted the smuggling tunnels in Rafah to vanish in any way. And many more reasons.

Israel found the bodies of the gunmen who did the attack and Egypt arrested 9 on the claims of having a relation to Sinai attacks but my question remains standing: Where is the proof of Gaza being behind Sinai attacks? Nada. Nothing. Yet Gaza is blamed.
Gaza held a vigil to show support to Egypt and to mourn the lives of the innocent 20 Egyptian soldiers who fell dead due to Sinai attacks.

Egyptian government claimed that their forces carried attacks against militants in Sinai but local residents of Sinai denied the report and asked them to show evidence. Later on, Egyptian security officials in Sinai were sacked because of the Sinai attacks.

Gaza was affected more than Egypt after Sinai attacks because Rafah border is closed, Palestinians are not allowed into Cairo airport, Gaza electricity crisis is elevating every day, smuggling tunnels are closed so a shortage in goods will surface soon, Gazans are trapped in Gaza with no way out even if they are students or patients, Gaza's image is darkened by false allegations and Israel killed a Palestinian in Rafah the day of the attacks just because he was a Palestinian and riding his bike near Rafah that day.

I was disappointed also to see Egyptian Channels airing quotes of Israeli officials buttering up to Egypt by saying that "Egypt is strong". While the Egyptian media still discuss Sinai attacks to this day, no new news surfaced from any investigation and Gaza remains innocent since no one found any evidence to tie Gaza to Sinai attacks.

Gaza remains the scapegoat. Gaza's biggest role is being the whipping boy who is there to be whipped even if he didn’t do anything. But nobody is cutting Gaza some slack, not even Egyptians. I refuse to generalize, not all Egyptians blamed Gaza.

Palestinians and Egyptians were always brothers and they will remain like that no matter what happens. May all the Egyptian soldiers who died due to this vicious attack rest in peace, our hearts and prayers are with their families. I would never believe that a Palestinian is capable of killing an Egyptian.

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6 comments:

  1. In fact I agree with you that it's unlikely that Hamas has anything to do with the attacks. I also agree with you that blaming the Palestinians before any evidence is presented would be unfair. However, you yourself don't seem to have any problem blaming Israel for the attack although you don't have any evidence either. That's very typical of the Muslim treatment of Israel and the Jews in general. No evidence is required. Israel is to blame by the virtue its being hated.
    My take on it is that the attack was perpetrated by radicalised Islamists among the local Beduins. Israel might have known about the attack and it probably warned the Egyptians. Because this time Egyptian brass did not start the usual blame game, but moved quickly as if the knew what they were doing. I suspect that there might be some Palestinians involved, the ones that oppose Hamas.

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  2. It's funny how it never occurs to Gazanz to look for solution inside Gaza. There is always someone else to blame. It just seems that everyone is to blame: Israel (well it is always there to blame), UN and surprise, surprise your brothers in Egypt are now labeled as ignorant traitors. Well good luck with that attitude. Or face the truth: Gaza is a militant theocratic dictatorship. A dictatorship so lousy, it can't even control different military factions, which fire rockets at random and bring a havoc in Sinai. I think that it is a good opportunity to stop and think where are you heading, because sometimes the change should come from inside.

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  3. Dan Thank u 4 commenting! I also owe u a comment about my Palestine and Jerusalem blog post! I respect how u share ur opinions! I agree but lets not talk about the hatred between Muslims and Israel! I just would like 2 correct u, we know how 2 differentiate between Jews and Israeli zionists and the hatred is mutual and U know that! I dont know who exactly did those shameful attacks but I dont believe Gaza, Hamas or Islamic Jihad are connected to it so I agree with ur analysis! Remember Eilat attack September of 2011? Gaza was blamed, bombed and punished but later on it was discovered that Gaza has nothing to do with it.

    Khodv or whatever ur name is: I consider ur comment as attacking so I will not say allot bcoz I refuse this! What I will say is: 1- Not every1 who lives in Gaza is Hamas. 2- Even if Gaza gov. is flawed that doesnt give any1 the right to bomb Gaza or punish the people collectively. 3- Dont define Gaza bcoz its very obvious how little u know about Gaza. 4- I agree that the change should start from within but not for the reasons u mentioned and as we r on this subject I think Israel should do exactly the same and end this occupation. Thank u 4 ur comment!

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  4. Firstly, Israel is not blamed by virtue of its being hated, but by virtue of its hating--it's across-the-board policy of ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and apartheid.

    My own opinion about this situation is this:

    I came to a realization last February which I believe is the full truth of the whole matter. That is that, most immediately, the powers in the region surrounding Gaza, and from a greater distance other influential factions in the world, have a unified agenda to eventually eliminate the population of Gaza. I do not see Israel as the only one trying to kill them; there are many accomplices, most distantly every citizen of the world who goes through life with the implicit philosophy of "better them than me."

    It was in February when Egypt stopped fuel coming into Gaza. It dawned on me that everyone is against Gaza. Gaza and its population have endured a level of cruelty perpetrated upon them that no other country or group of people in the world would stand for or ever allow to befall them. Yet Gaza's situation has been allowed to go on for decades. Why is no one doing anything about it? Why has no one done anything about it? Yet all the while crying out about small-scale atrocities in the world. Because there is an agenda high up somewhere to eradicate Gazans.

    In a "normal" country or situation, Egypt would have consulted with the Gazans and found a solution to the fuel situation BEFORE cutting off the supply. But since Egypt is also part of this agenda to kill Gaza, they just cut it off out of nowhere. People in the world would never accept anything short of respect for their humanity, but only in Gaza is this kind of insane abuse "acceptable" to everyone everywhere. Including Gazans, I suppose, who, over the decades, have grown accustomed to a level of abuse no country on the planet would ever tolerate.

    See the uproar over the reported 16 Egyptian soldiers killed--how many Palestinians were killed as a result of Egypt cutting off the fuel supply? Who cares about that??

    I think this incident was a false-flag operation to close the border and the tunnels in a Gaza that suddenly became free of the most recent cruelty visited upon it by Egypt. Who was behind it and aware of it? I think at least both Israel and Egypt, if not more factions.

    If you are in Gaza and you wonder why you never get a moment to breath before another calamity is visited upon you by the outside world, I think this is why.

    Any time there is an incident in that region, the response is to attack Gaza. I am reminded of some incident about a year ago along the Gaza-Israel border where an Israeli was killed. Without knowing anything about who perpetrated that death, Israel began bombing Gaza. It was later revealed that the perpetrators of that death weren't related to Gaza in any way. It has reached a point where it is blatant that everyone is just beating up on Gaza. It would be comical if it weren't real--person A punches person B in the face. Person B, outraged that person A punched him in the face, turns around and punches person C to get back at person A. (Didn't Monty Python do a skit like that once?)

    I think those in power make incidents in order to justify some act they will implement to intensify the suffering in Gaza and gradually push forward the elimination of that population.

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  5. Lucia! I am speechless! Such an amazing comment! Thank U <3

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