Former Egyptian Foreign Minister, Ahmed Maher, Expresses Surprise at Abul Ghait's Threat to Break Legs of Starving Palestinians if They Cross the Border Again

Former Egyptian FM expresses surprise at his successor's comments

[ 08/02/2008 - 09:54 PM ]

CAIRO, (PIC)--

Former Egyptian Foreign Minister, Ahmed Maher, indirectly criticized comments made by his successor, Ahmed Abul-Ghait, who criticized the Palestinian resistance and doubted its effectiveness.

"I find myself unable to ignore the waves of criticism of the resistance which we hear and read about," he wrote in an article published by the London based al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper.

He said in his article that people resisting occupation are usually weaker than the occupier which they fight and by their resistance they do not aim to defeat the occupier, but rather to pester the occupier and make his occupation costly to force him to look for a political solution.

He added that this situation has been true in all cases of resistance such as that of Mau Mau revolt and the Vietnamese resistance.

He also said that he finds strange that some people want to absolve the Israeli occupation of its responsibilities and the real tragic situation it has created in the Gaza Strip as well as the campaigns of death and destruction, not only in the Gaza Strip, but also in the West Bank.

Maher criticized the campaign of incitement by some writers and in some Egyptian official media which aims to drive a wedge between the Egyptians and the Palestinians saying that he trusted the wisdom of President Hosni Mubarak to put an end to such a campaign, stressing that the Palestinian-Egyptian relationship has always survived the occasional strains.

"We must not forget that the Israeli conspiracy is there and ongoing; Israel wants to drive Palestinian to desperation through persecution, death and starvation to force them to commit acts which will lead to the second aim which is to cause strife between Egypt and the Palestinians," Maher wrote.

Maher called for a review of protocols pertaining to the border crossings to make sure it guarantees freedom of movement for Palestinians and security for Egypt. He criticized Europe for its role in the Rafah crossing calling it the roll of the "dumb witness" who refuses to speak the truth.

On the regretful incidents that took place after the closure of the border he said that the Palestinian police intervened to stop irresponsible acts of individuals that only God knows the nature of whose motives.

Earlier, Ahmad Abul-Ghait, the incumbent Egyptian Foreign Minister, criticized the Palestinian resistance and described as comic its acts of resistance against the occupation, considering the imbalance of power.

Caretaker gov't regrets Abul Ghait's statements, says relations with Egypt solid

[ 09/02/2008 - 08:23 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

The caretaker government headed by premier Ismail Haniya expressed regret at Egyptian foreign minister Ahmed Abul Ghait's statements in which he threatened to break Palestinians' legs if they crossed the borders again, pointing out that the Palestinian-Egyptian relationship is still solid.

"Our people have dignity and respect Egypt's sovereignty, security, leadership and people; our great people will never be one day an enemy of any Arab or Islamic country because the Arab and Islamic nation is our inalienable strategic depth," Taher Al-Nunu, the government's spokesman, highlighted in a statement received by the PIC on Friday.

Nunu underlined that Palestine and Egypt have one common enemy, that is, the Israeli occupation which is working on creating disputes between the two countries and tampering with their security in the region, calling on the free press not to get along with Israel's attempts to foment sedition between Arabs.

The spokesman also expressed his government's great dismay at PA chief Mahmoud Abbas's proposal to broker a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel, considering it a failed attempt by Abbas to avoid his responsibility as a PA chief.

The spokesman charged that Abbas lays his responsibility on others and gives the Israeli occupation pretexts to wage attacks and aggression on the Palestinian people through his refusal to respond to the call of reason and the will of his people calling for ending internal discord and his insistence on putting obstacles in the way of national dialogue.

The spokesman renewed his government's call on Arab countries to shoulder their historic responsibility towards the Palestinian people and to work on stopping the Israeli aggression and breaking the unjust siege on them.

Hamas: We hoped that Arab brothers would break the siege not the legs of the besieged

[ 08/02/2008 - 08:31 PM ]

GAZA, CAIRO, (PIC)--

Hamas said that it was hoped that the Arab brothers would "break the siege rather than breaking legs of the besieged", in response to comments made by the Egyptian Foreign Minister, Ahmed abul-Ghait, who threatened to break the legs of Palestinians if they tried to cross the border again.

Mushir al-Masri, secretary of the Hamas parliamentary block, told PIC correspondent that he hopes that these comments do not represent an official Egyptian stand and added that the movement is in constant communication with the Egyptian brothers.

He expressed his astonishment at the statement of Abul-Ghait saying that such comments do not reflect the mood of the Egyptian street.

Masri said that the solution is to open the Rafah crossing as a first step towards breaking the siege.

Masri also stressed that the relationship with Egypt is more deep rooted than to be influenced by such statements.

Abul-Ghait was critical of the Palestinian resistance for continuing with an asymmetric confrontation and thus causing heavy losses on the Palestinian side, to which Masri replied that never in history has a people under occupation possessed similar resources as the occupier, but that did not stop people fighting for their freedom.

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