(Ha'aretz) Jack Khoury - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he cannot ask Egypt to stop demolishing houses and create a buffer zone in Rafah, on the Egyptian side of the border with Gaza, because he is fully aware of Egyptian security needs. Abbas told the Egyptian newspaper Al-Akhbar that 1,800 millionaires were created in Gaza who benefited from the smuggling tunnels. Since those tunnels were used for smuggling weapons, drugs, cash and equipment for forging documents, Abbas believed the destruction of the tunnels was the best solution. Abbas said Hamas is an inseparable part of the Muslim Brotherhood and takes orders from the Brotherhood's international leadership. He also noted that Hamas never stops lying, citing the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank last summer. The Hamas political leadership denied any connection, while senior Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri accepted responsibility for the kidnapping in a speech he made in Turkey.
2014-12-02 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive