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Why Egypt Prefers Palestinian Terrorists on Its Border

(Gatestone Institute) Bassam Tawil - Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Badr Abdelatty said on Sep. 18 that his country will never accept any Israeli security presence at the border between Egypt and Gaza, during a joint press conference with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Cairo. The Egyptians are actually saying that they prefer to have Palestinian terrorists on their border rather than Israel. After the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, control over the Rafah crossing and Philadelphi Corridor was handed over to Egypt and the Palestinian Authority (PA), who became responsible for preventing smuggling of weapons from Egyptian territory into Gaza. In 2007, Hamas staged a coup against the PA and seized full control of Gaza. Following this, Hamas and other terror groups increased their smuggling activities through the border and the dozens of tunnels they dug beneath it. Egypt failed to stop the flow of weapons from its territory into Gaza for two decades. The Egyptians are apparently worried that Israel's presence at the border with Gaza would deny them the opportunity to continue making a huge profit from bribes. If the IDF leaves, Hamas will swiftly return to the border, and the Egyptians will continue looking the other way.
2024-09-22 00:00:00
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