Palestinians cross Gaza Wall into Egypt

Quote :

AFAH, Egypt — After seven months of living under a crippling Israeli economic blockade of the Gaza Strip , Palestinian militants toppled border walls with Egypt early Wednesday, opening up a floodgate that allowed tens of thousands of desperate residents to pour into Egypt in search of food and fuel.

Under orders from Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak , Egyptian soldiers allowed the Palestinians to stream over the border.

In a well-planned operation early Wednesday morning, Palestinian militants toppled large sections of the concrete and metal walls that separated Egypt from the Gaza Strip .

Within hours, tens of thousands of Palestinians were streaming across the border in search of basic goods that Israel stopped delivering after Hamas militants seized military control of Gaza last June.

Families loaded donkey carts with feta cheese, dish soap and soda. Young men ferried dozens of 100-pound bags of concrete into Gaza . Families spirited 10-gallon cans of olive oil and gasoline across the border.

"We've been choked, choked," said Imm Fadi , a 40-year-old mother of five, as she stood next to an Egyptian armored personnel carrier with her 11-year-old son. "Tell the Israelis to leave us alone. Tell the world to look at how we are living."

The situation in Gaza has grown increasingly dire as Israel has tightened its economic blockade. It stopped delivering all but essential goods. Last week, it cut off fuel for the Gaza Strip power plant, throwing large parts of the region into darkness.

It's refusing to lift the blockade until Palestinian militants abandon their daily rocket attacks on southern Israel .

While the United Nations and aid groups have condemned the Israeli actions as illegal under international law, Israel continues to squeeze Gaza .

After Palestinian militants toppled the walls Wednesday, Mubarak said he'd directed his border guards to allow the Palestinians to cross into Egypt because they were starving.

"I told them to let them come in and eat and buy food and then return them later as long as they were not carrying weapons," Mubarak said while attending a book fair in Cairo .

Israeli officials voiced immediate concern that the porous border would allow Palestinian militants to spirit weapons and money into Gaza .

" Israel looks to Egypt to solve the problem," said Aryeh Mekel , a spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry .

http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20080123/wl_mcclatchy/2824994

I don't fully understand the implications. This is what stuck out to me.

"While the United Nations and aid groups have condemned the Israeli actions as illegal under international law, Israel continues to squeeze Gaza."

What use is condemming something as illegal if you don't do anything about it?

What a sad state of affairs.

Hope those people get their food. I noticed feta cheese was involved and I love the stuff so hopefully that's some consolation... the whole eight months of starving thing can't really be made up for though.

Israel is sure nitpciking at all of its neighbours...... Last week they said they can sent a satellite in orbit to spy on Iran and now they continue to try and crush Palestine...

How is egypt reacting to this?

i wish peace would come in that area

why cant human beings get along?

Why is there a "humanitarian crisis" in Gaza now when Hamas has been sending rockets from Gaza into Israeli border towns for 7 years?

gilbertgoesoff wrote:

i wish peace would come in that area

why cant human beings get along?

there wouldn't be anything to report

Hamas only had a presence in Gaza until the takeover last year. Now, they have complete political control of the region, which is why Israel is cutting off supplies, which has led to the humanitarian crisis.

I genuinely detest these threads. They never end well.

If a group of people were firing rockets into your hometown on a regular basis (and keep in mind, this has been going on long before Hamas took power in Gaza) wouldn't you do anything in your power to make it stop?

Israel is in a no win situation here. If they react with violence, as many of us would be tempted to do in that situation, they get condemned by the world. If they act non-violently (as they have here) they get condemned by the world.

So those of you blaming Israel, and not acknowledging anything else, how would you make the rockets stop? If they're wrong, give them the solution...