Egypt clamps down on Rafah border, Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood wants to mediate between Fateh and Hamas

Egypt clamps down on Rafah border

Date: 28 / 01 / 2008 Time: 12:26

Gaza – Ma'an –

Egypt is tightened control of its border with the Gaza Strip on Monday after five days of virtually unregulated cross-border traffic.

Witnesses told Ma'an that Egyptian security forces erected several checkpoints between the Egyptian cities of Rafah, directly on the border, and Al-Arish, just to the south.

On Sunday Egypt forced shops in the border towns to close in an effort to turn away Palestinians who have flocked to Egypt after months of imprisonment within the walls of Gaza.

Palestinian fighters toppled the border wall in several places on Wednesday, opening the way for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. Israel and the United States have been pressuring Egypt to re-seal the border.

Meanwhile, Palestinian students, patients and those with business contracts abroad continued a sit-in for a sixth day in front of the Egyptian interior ministry's offices in the Sinai district. They are demanding that Egyptian authorities to let them pass to the international airport in Cairo so they can fly to their destinations.

Since Monday, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from the besieged Gaza Strip crossed the newly-opened border, mainly to shop for supplies made scarce by the Israeli blockade of the territory.

Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood wants to mediate between Fatah and Hamas

Date: 28 / 01 / 2008 Time: 11:59

Bethlehem – Ma'an –

An aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt may mediate between his Fatah party and their rival, Hamas, in talks aimed at restoring Palestinian unity.

Nabil Sha'ath, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and an advisor to Abbas, told the London-based Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper that he met with one of the Muslim Brotherhood's spiritual leaders, Muhammad Habib, and the group's Secretary General, Mahmoud Izzat.

It was Sha'ath's first meeting with the Brotherhood since he became a representative of the Palestinian president.

"I explained the situation between Fatah and Hamas, and they understood that situation, expressing their will to intervene," Sha'ath said, adding that he asked the Brotherhood to "play a positive role" by not favoring either side in the ongoing splint within Palestinian society.

Muhammad Habib said the meeting addressed the repercussions of the current crisis in the Palestinian territories inside Palestine and throughout the Arab world.

The Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamic political movement that began in Egypt, is an opponent of the current Egyptian government of President Hosni Mubarak. The Palestinian Hamas was founded in the 1980s by members of the Brotherhood in the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian polity has been divided since Hamas violently took control of the Gaza Strip in June, forcing Fatah's security forces out of the territory. President Abbas dismissed a unity government, appointing a caretaker government that holds power in the West Bank.

Senior Hamas official: 'Third Intifada' brewing in Gaza

Date: 28 / 01 / 2008 Time: 10:36

Bethlehem – Ma'an Exclusive –

Ahmed Yousuf, the political advisor to Gaza-based Palestinian Prime Minister Isma'il Haniyah on Sunday said the flood of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip into Egypt marked the beginning of a possible third Palestinian uprising, and a sign that the Israeli siege cannot be imposed on the people of Gaza without a popular revolt.

Palestinians broke through the border wall on Wednesday, ending months of closure and five days of total blockade.

Yousuf told Ma'an that this movement could become a full-fledged "uprising for dignity and breaking siege." The next stage, according to Yousuf could involve thousands of Palestinians heading to the Israel-controlled Erez crossing in order to force the international community to fulfill their obligations and end the embargo on the Gaza Strip.

"Everything is possible, and we do not know what will happen tomorrow. We intend to head to the Erez crossing and to the Palestinian territories occupied in 1948 in a stride to be considered preparation to the restoration of the right of repatriation. We expect the people of the West Bank to take the initiative and head to the crossings and attempt to open them. These steps will be taken in case the siege on the Gaza Strip continues," Yousuf explained.

Yousuf also revealed that Hamas movement has received congratulations from European officials over the toppling of the Rafah border wall, calling the move a victory for Hamas and an act that their countries failed to do in order to ease the suffering of the Palestinian people.

A delegation representing the Gaza-based de facto government is scheduled to travel to Cairo this week, and will be joined by exiled Hamas officials, Yousif added. Egyptian and Gazan officials are to discuss a plan to place the Rafah crossing under Palestinian-Egyptian control, ending European supervision there, Yousuf said.

The First Palestinian Intifada (literally "shaking off") began in 1987 in the refugee camps of the Gaza Strip, and quickly spread to the West Bank. The Second Intifada, also called the Al-Aqsa Intifada, began in 2000, and has not yet been declared finished.

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