DEBKA: Egyptian ambulances smuggling terrorists and weapons into Gaza
According to DEBKA, Egyptian ambulances are being used to smuggle terrorists and weapons into Gaza when they enter Gaza to evacuate wounded terrorists to hospitals in Egypt. (Hat Tip: Thanos). The Olmert-Barak-Livni junta won't expose the truth for fear of Israelis realizing what a sham their treaty with Egypt really is.DEBKAfile’s military sources disclose that 27 ambulances also brought in 15-20 Hamas commando fighters, part of the of the 120-strong group rounded up in Sinai and detained on their return from advanced courses in Iran and Syria. They were permitted to cross back into Gaza with a quantity of weapons and ammunition.Egypt is the third largest recipient of US foreign aid.
Israel military sources are watching to see if the incoming ambulances are also carrying shoulder-borne anti-air missiles for shooting down Israeli helicopters and drones, which Hamas has been pressing Egypt to allow them to bring in. So far Cairo has resisted this demand but may have now relented. These sources describe the returning Hamas fighters as highly trained for guerilla warfare against conventional armies and therefore a valuable increment for Hamas’ war against Israel.
Our sources also confirm that the incoming group of trained fighters is not the first Cairo waved through the Rafah terminal. Last week, as fighting flared between Israel and Hamas, 17 were admitted to reinforce embattled Hamas. Israel officials imposed a blackout on this incident, reluctant to show the public the two-faced nature of Cairo’s policy of lenience for Hamas behind the mask of cooperation with Israel’s war on terror. The Olmert government also feared the exposure of the real state of affairs on the Gaza-Egyptian frontier notwithstanding its under-the-counter tacit acceptance of the buildup of Egyptian frontier troops to 1,500 in breach of the 1982 peace treaty.
Prime minister Olmert prefers to avoid any disclosures that might embarrass Cairo ahead of Condoleezza Rice’s visits to Israel, Ramallah and Egypt, starting Tuesday, March 4. According to our Washington sources, she will rap Palestinian knuckles for Hamas’ missile blitz, but at the same time tighten the screw on Israel to lift its siege of Gaza and reopen the border crossings. (Food and other convoys have never really stopped crossing into Gaza even under fire.)
The Mubarak government therefore is not afraid to reopen the supposedly closed Rafah terminal from time to time whenever Hamas demands essential items to fuel its ongoing war on Israel.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:52 AM
3 Comments:
The irony is much of the Gaza situation could be defused without war by turning up the heat on Cairo. But the Olmert-Livni-Barak government don't want to offend Mubarak even though that would offer them what they want without having to reoccupy Gaza. Such is the short-sightedness of Israeli policy, not only towards the Palestinians but also towards the Egyptians and its one for Israel will end up paying an unnecessarily high price in the future.
NormanF,
Turning up the heat on Cairo will only work as long as the heat is turned up. There's really no choice but to reoccupy Gaza. But lots of us warned that would happen when all Gaza's Jews were expelled in 2005.
Carl - you're correct. The failure to employ Israel's diplomatic arsenal forcefully has meant that Israel will have to reoccupy Gaza. Even Tzipi Livni said as much to the foreign press on Tuesday. Its been obvious Disengagement did not work and the thing that keeps Israel's government ordering the IDF back into Gaza is its trepidation in facing up to a catastrophic mistake that has undermined Israel's national security. If there's a lesson there somewhere, making Israeli revanants homeless doesn't make Jews within Green Line Israel safer.
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