Surprisingly, Arab countries like Jordan and Egypt – who were totally uninterested in giving the Palestinians their own state when those countries occupied Gaza and the West Bank – seem very interested in reoccupying Gaza and the West Bank now that Israel is leaving:
As the Israeli government gives up on the Palestinians keeping things quiet in the West Bank and Gaza, it is turning to – guess who? – the Jordanians and Egyptians to fill in… Joshua Mitnick reported in the Washington Times on July 5, 2005 that “Palestinian security chiefs and Jordanian officials are discussing sending a unit of the Jordanian military to the West Bank to boost stability after Israel’s withdrawal.”… Talks with the Egyptian government should lead to agreement on the final details of a deal [regarding Gaza], “whereby 750 Egyptian police officers will be deployed on the western side of the Philadelphi route.”
Could it be that Arab governments don’t really care about the “Palestinian plight” and are merely exploiting the plight of Gaza, West Bank, and refugee Arabs in a cynical attempt to bring international pressure to bear on Israel? Could it be that the international community has known this all along, but didn’t really care because the whole “blame Israel” game seemed a lot more fun? (Answer: yes).
The Ha’aretz writeup on Egypt’s reoccupation-but-not-really of Gaza is here.
[Cross-posted on IsraPundit]
