[Ha'aretz] Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel - The masses of Palestinians who stormed the Rafah border crossing with Egypt this week angered the Egyptians. Israel is linking the opening of Rafah to the release of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, but the Egyptian mediators appear to have little interest in opening the crossing. They are quite fearful of a mass Palestinian influx into Sinai - something Hamas' police force is not likely to make a serious effort to prevent. Cairo is also aware of a recent survey of Gaza residents, indicating that 45% would leave if possible. Their preferred destination: Egypt. This is not what President Hosni Mubarak has in mind.
2008-07-04 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive