Hamas: You Know Who’s Starving Gaza? Egypt.

I haven’t had a chance to post about the gigantic steel wall that Egypt is quietly building along their Gaza border, though it sounds even even more apartheidrific than the one that Saudi Arabia built – for which they also didn’t catch any international flack. Diker unpacked the hypocrisy on an Omri Ceren Show episode at the end of December, so if you’re interested in background that’s the place to go. Apparently only Israel, which is uniquely subject to terrorist attacks as a genocidal tactic, deserves criticism for their defensive barriers.

In any case Hamas can’t understand why – if the world is so anxious to condemn Israel’s Gaza closure – Egypt’s role is passing without much global notice. Domestic and regional opinion has been running strongly negative but the UN isn’t exactly rushing to pass anti-Cairo resolutions. Curious, that:

Hamas on Monday sharply criticized Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak’s defense of his country’s expanded fortifications on its border with the Gaza Strip… “Mubarak’s remarks defending the steel wall are an address on the blockade of 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip,” Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri told reporters in Gaza City. The Egyptian president’s statements “contradict his earlier remarks that he would not allow the starvation of the Palestinian people in Gaza,” al-Masri accused. On Sunday Mubarak marked the national annual Police Day holiday by declaring: “Fortifications along our eastern border are a work of Egyptian sovereignty, and we refuse to enter into a debate with anyone [about them].”

You do have to admire Hamas’s consistency. They opened fire on Egyptian civilians and their snipers murdered an Egyptian soldier. They instigated riots across the country. And then – when the Egyptians responded as they were bound to respond – Hamas whined about victimization. Because of course they did.

References and related after the jump…

References:
* Egypt starts building steel wall on Gaza Strip border [BBC]
* Amid protests, Egypt defends right to build Gaza wall [Ha'aretz]
* Saudi Arabia to Build Apartheid Wall [MR]
* Arab Countries In Iran’s Middle East [Omri Ceren Show]
* Hamas: Mubarak helping Israel starve Gaza Palestinians [Ha'aretz]
* Gazans fire at Egyptian workers in Rafah [YNet]
* Hamas: Egypt has declared war on us [JPost]
* Egypt-Gaza border riot leaves Egyptian guard dead [LAT]