Middle East Update

by Hillel Fendel
Nearly 2,300 Arabs from Gaza, among them Hamas terrorists who wish to avoid Israeli arrest, will be allowed to enter Gaza via Egypt - in direct opposition to an Israeli request. The Arabs, returning from a religious pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, spent the weekend aboard two luxury ferries [...]

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was quoted as telling a key Knesset committee on Monday:

“Egyptian actions in the war against smuggling in the Philadelphi Corridor are terrible and definitely have implications for future problems in the region, such as the arming of Hamas in Gaza.”

(Reuters)

Russia has agreed to provide nuclear know-how and technical expertise to Egypt to help Cairo with plans to build civilian nuclear power stations to meet growing energy needs.

Youssef IbrahimEgypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, which represents the Islamists’ most significant political opposition force, published its first detailed political program, a manifesto that sent Arab progressives into deep shock. Among its highlights: The revision of “every article” of Egypt’s constitution in order to replace civil laws with Islamic sharia laws.

Ellen Knickmeyer (Washington Post)
After imprisoning or prodding into exile Egypt’s leading secular opposition activists, the government is using detentions and legal changes to neutralize the country’s last surviving major political movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, ahead of the end of the 26-year rule of President Hosni Mubarak, who is 79.

According to Arab residents of Gaza, Egyptian authorities temporarily opened the Rafiah crossing on Saturday September 29, in order to allow dozens of Hamas terrorists to enter Gaza. Over 80 Hamas terrorists were reportedly allowed to enter Gaza after being stranded in Egypt by the closure of the Rafiah crossing after the Hamas [...]

Humanitarian aid through border crossings at issue
A day after the Israeli cabinet defined the Gaza Strip as “hostile territory,” The Jerusalem Post reported Thursday September 20, that the IDF is working on a proposal that calls for a “complete disengagement” from the Gaza Strip - involving the closure of all border crossings with Israel [...]

Both the Saudi Arabian and Egyptian governments denied entry recently to Khaled Mashaal, head of the Hamas office in Damascus, saying the Islamist faction Hamas must first reverse its coup in Gaza, the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jareeda reported on Friday. Saudi Arabia is alledgedly outraged with both Hamas and Fatah for their lack of adherence to [...]

Israel is planning to build a fence along its border with Egypt to prevent the smuggling of terrorists, sex-slaves, drugs and refugees, and hopes the Egyptian government will partner with it to that end. The first indication that a concrete plan for this project is being worked on was given by Prime Minister’s [...]

REUTERS
Egyptian police found 2.75 tons of explosives in central Sinai on Sunday, September 2, a security official said. The explosives, hidden in 54 plastic bags, were found during a search in the el-Gefgafa area, 100 km southwest of the coastal town of El Arish, the official said on a customary condition [...]