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Offer Gaza to Egypt

By: AndrewHyman (Diary)  |  November 16th, 2012 at 10:54 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Seems to me that Israel should publicly offer to cede the Gaza Strip to Egypt, just like Israel ceded the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt. If Egypt says no, then Israel will have a much freer hand to impose order on Gaza. If Egypt says yes, then Egypt will become responsible for doing that.

This suggestion is not new. Daniel Pipes of Stanford University’s Hoover Institution has argued for it. Former UN Ambassador John Bolton has argued for it too.

There would have to be some agreement that Egypt wouldn’t just spin off Gaza into an independent or autonomous country. Everyone would be better off if Gaza were no longer a free agent. And that includes the people of Gaza.

COMMENTS

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  • RedRedhead

    Egypt doesn’t want it. Neither does Israel. It’s a mess.

    • AndrewHyman

      If Israel ends up at war with Iran, Israel does not want thousands of missiles from Gaza to be fired by Iran’s buddies in Gaza. So, it appears that Israel wants to take this opportunity to rid Gaza of missiles. I don’t see how Egypt can complain about what Israel’s doing, if Egypt is unwilling to take over Gaza and demilitarize it.

  • checkmate2012

    Gaza to Egypt might have worked a few years ago, but I doubt it would work today. I read the above referenced article by Ambassador Bolton and it was written in 2009, and almost foretold today’s events:

    From the link provided in the diary above:

    “Egypt no more wants responsibility for dealing with Hamas than Israel does.
    Cairo fears that Hamas extremism, and its affinity for the Muslim Brotherhood,
    will increase the risk of extremism in Egypt. Strong ties exist between Hamas
    and the Muslim Brotherhood, and extremism in Egypt is growing, so already the
    real issue is finding the best way to control the threat simultaneously in Egypt
    and Gaza. Keeping Gaza politically separate from Egypt may be optically
    satisfying to some, but doing so simply increases threats to Egyptian stability,
    the loss of which would be catastrophic for the broader region. Just ask the
    mullahs in Tehran.”

    Wow. Fast forward today, and now that Egypt is run by the MB’hood, they seem to be taking sides with the PLO/Hamas. Interesting that Bolton also proposed to give the West Bank to Jordan which makes more since to me.

    Seems to me that since Palestinians are Arabs, they should take care of their own. Israel has bent over backwards to satisy these make-believe people and they refuse to recognize Israel and it’s right to exist. Either they take the West Bank and Gaza strip and stop the terror, or Israel should reclaim it and deport them across their borders. I think Egypt and Jordan should welcome them as their citizens or Egypt should give the Palestinians the Sinai Peninsula.

    While I don’t know if everything in this article is true, it is a fascinating read on the history of Palestinians, which the author states came into being one day after the Six-Day War in 1967. It does seem plausible given the Balfour Declaration by Britain in 1917. I especially like the quotes at the end by Arab leaders which are telltale signs why they don’t support their cause!
    From http://www.imninalu.net/myths-pals.htm

    “There are no differences between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. We are all part of one nation. It is only for political reasons that we carefully underline our Palestinian identity… yes, the existence of a separate Palestinian identity
    serves only tactical purposes. The founding of a Palestinian state is a new tool
    in the continuing battle against Israel”. – Zuhair Muhsin, military
    commander of the PLO and member of the PLO Executive Council -”

    And from butcher of Syria:

    “You do not represent Palestine as much as we do. Never forget this one point: There is no such thing as a Palestinian people, there is no Palestinian entity, there is only Syria. You are an integral part of the Syrian people, Palestine is an integral part of Syria. Therefore it is we, the Syrian authorities, who are the true representatives of
    the Palestinian people”.- Syrian dictator Hafez Assad to the PLO leader Yassir Arafat-”

  • http://scipio62.livejournal.com/ scipio62

    Not a good idea. Currently, Israel has legally blockaded Gaza, but sends in all kinds of food, water, and medicine, even with all of this shooting going on. If Israel cedes Gaza to Egypt, but Hamas is encouraged to continue its terrorist ways, the Israeli blockade would become a blockade of Egypt; an invasion of Gaza to stop the terrorism would be an invasion of Egypt. All that happens if Israel cedes Gaza to Egypt is a guarantee another full-blown Arab-Israeli war will start, with the UN on the side of the Arabs; the Russians and the Chinese will support the other Arab/Muslim states to counter U.S. support of Israel, while the Europeans will blame Israel and do nothing to stop the Arabs.

    When Israel was created as a state in 1947, an Arab/Muslim state was also to be created. Following the unsuccessful 1948 Arab invasion to destroy Israel, Egypt took Gaza and Transjordan (now known as Jordan) took the West Bank. Neither country did anything for their fellow Arabs, nor helped set up a separate state. They lost those territories in the 1967 Six-Day War. By all standards, Gaza and the West Bank are part of Israel’s sovereign territory; but thanks to the diplomatic coddling of dysfunctional Arab states, they are deemed “Occupied Territories”. In addition, neither Egypt (under Mubarak) or Jordan wanted those territories back, especially after Arafat took control of the PLO. I doubt even the Muslim Brotherhood-run Egypt wants the territory and the people of Gaza; it gives Egypt the option to claim plausible deniability of any support for Hamas.

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