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Israel: "Egypt Not Stopping Hamas Smuggling"

[Jerusalem Post] Yaakov Katz - The Defense Ministry is growing increasingly frustrated with Egypt's refusal to find a solution for the continuing weapons smuggling into Gaza from Sinai. Despite multiple requests and visits to Cairo by high-ranking Israeli government and defense officials, the Egyptians have not changed their conduct along the border. "If the Egyptians wanted to they could have stopped the smuggling a long time ago already," a government official involved in the talks with Cairo said. "It could be that they just want to see Israeli blood spill." The official predicted that the Egyptian policemen would continue to be ineffective and that the Egyptians would use this as an excuse to demand that Israel allow the deployment of additional troops. Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz said the deployment of a multinational force along the Philadelphi Corridor at the Gaza-Egypt border would impair Israel's ability to combat the smuggling. "What will happen if one day we want to operate along the Philadelphi Corridor and there is a multinational force there?" he asked. History had shown that multinational forces were never effective in areas of active conflict, but only in conducting peacekeeping operations, he said.
2007-06-08 01:00:00
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