Why Egypt Prefers Palestinian Terrorists On Its Border
by Bassam Tawil • September 20, 2024 at 5:00 am
"Before el-Sissi, but also during his tenure, cars, motorcycles, clothes, drugs, medicines, alcoholic beverages, and weapons were smuggled through the Philadelphi Corridor over the years, lots of weapons: improved RPG-29 rockets that killed our soldiers in the Iron Swords War, hidden rocket parts, machine guns, mines, and more." — Nadav Shragai, Israeli author and journalist, Israel Hayom, July 10, 2024.
"[E]ven those who trust President el-Sissi now cannot guarantee that a new [former Egyptian President] Mohammed Morsi from the Muslim Brotherhood won't rise to power in the future, as we saw happen in 2012 presidential elections in Egypt. Israel must, therefore, remain in Philadelphi [gateway between Egypt and Gaza].... Foreign monitoring forces have failed in Lebanon over the years, and they also failed at the Rafah crossing from which European Union monitors fled in 2007." — Nadav Shragai, Israel Hayom, July 10, 2024.
"Even today the city of Rafah [near the border with Egypt] is full of smugglers who bribe the Egyptian police and run a business sector with a turnover in the billions. The smuggling still continues during wartime, as war materiel and other goods flow from Sinai into Gaza every day. And there is fear that such smuggling is, or will be, accompanied by smuggling in the other direction. Senior Hamas figures are likely to try to escape into Egyptian territory, with hostages, and from there to Iran." — Brig. Gen. (Res.) Amir Avivi, March 4, 2024.
"Palestinians desperate to leave Gaza are paying bribes to brokers of up to $10,000 (£7,850) to help them exit the territory through Egypt... Very few Palestinians have been able to leave Gaza through the Rafah border crossing, but those trying to get their names on the list of people permitted to exit daily say they are being asked to pay large 'coordination fees' by a network of brokers and couriers with alleged links to the Egyptian intelligence services.... a network of brokers, based in Cairo, helping Palestinians leave Gaza has operated around the Rafah border for years.... The Guardian has spoken to a number of people who have been told they would have to pay between $5,000 and $10,000 each to leave the strip, with some launching crowdfunding campaigns to raise the money. Others were told they could leave sooner if they paid more." — The Guardian, January 8, 2024.
"A company owned by an influential Egyptian businessman and ally of President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi is making around $2m a day from Palestinians fleeing Israel's war on Gaza... Hala Consulting and Tourism Services, a firm owned by Sinai tribal leader and business tycoon Ibrahim al-Organi, has been charging Palestinians crossing from Gaza's Rafah to Egypt at least $5,000 per adult and $2,500 for children under 16. It has a monopoly on providing transfer services at the Rafah crossing...." — Middle East Eye, May 1, 2024.
Anyone who believes that the Egyptians would act differently if and when Israel withdraws from the border area must be living on another planet. If the IDF leaves, Hamas will swiftly return to the border, and the Egyptians will continue looking the other way.
Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Badr Abdelatty said on September 18 that his country will never accept any Israeli security presence at the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. "Abdelatty asserted that Egypt maintains complete opposition to any military presence at the [Rafah border] crossing or the Philadelphi Corridor [between Egypt and the Gaza Strip]," according to Egypt's Al-Ahram newspaper.
The Egyptian minister made his remarks during a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken following a meeting in Cairo. "These remarks echo previous Egyptian statements asserting its rejection of any Israeli presence in the Philadelphi corridor on the Egypt-Gaza border and the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, which has been under Israeli control since May," Al-Ahram added.
The Egyptians are actually saying that they prefer to have Palestinian terrorists on their border rather than Israel.
