{
\nOnce again, a government is considering building a wall along its border with Gaza and destroying tunnels it claims Hamas uses to conduct terrorist attacks \u2013 but this time it is Egypt and not Israel.}<\/p>\n
In the wake of Friday\u2019s attack in northern Sinai, which killed 33 Egyptian soldiers, Cairo has raised the idea of a building an eight-mile barrier along its border with Gaza to deter Islamist terrorists from moving in and out of the Palestinian territory.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a big conspiracy against us,\u201d Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi said in a live, televised address Saturday, in which he blamed \u201cforeign powers\u201d for the atrocity and said Egypt is locked in an \u201cexistential war\u201d.<\/p>\n
Egypt, which has declared a three-month state of emergency in northern Sinai, also cancelled its planned role as mediator between Israel and Hamas in talks aimed at maintaining a ceasefire that has held since the end of the summer conflict.<\/p>\n
Friday\u2019s sophisticated terrorist attack – which Egyptian authorities have indicated likely came from Gaza – was launched on Egyptian troops with devastating effect. Old tunnels that had yet to be destroyed by Egyptian forces or newly-dug tunnels that had not been detected were likely used in the attack that combined the use of a suicide bomber on one hand, with rocket propelled grenades and roadside bombs on the other.<\/p>\n
Local Egyptian media has reported that Sisi has sent reinforcements to bolster 12 existing battalions as well as sending Egypt\u2019s elite 777th and 999th units to strategic locations in northern Sinai and that helicopter gunships killed six terrorist on Sunday. Egypt is facing a serious threat in Sinai from, among others, the Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis Islamist terror group, which appears to be using Gaza as a safe haven. The terrorists are believed to be crossing via terror tunnels, even though Egypt has reportedly destroyed more than 1,800 underground passages in a bid to clamp down on Hamas and other terror groups operating there.<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand [Egypt] would like to create a buffer zone where there are no houses and no vegetation.\u201d
\n– Zvi Mazel, former Israeli Ambassador to Egypt<\/p>\n
Hamas, which has launched thousands of rockets into Israel from Gaza\u2019s northern border in the last year, has also sought to strike a blow at al-Sisi\u2019s forces as payback for the former Egyptian military leader\u2019s overthrowing of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas\u2019 parent organization.<\/p>\n
Following Friday\u2019s attack, the Rafah crossing between southern Gaza and Egypt was closed immediately and will reportedly remain closed indefinitely. Hamas leaders have reportedly stated that Gaza will \u201cexplode\u201d if the Rafah crossing is not re-opened quickly.<\/p>\n
While the southern crossing into Egypt is closed, other border crossings with Israel remain open. Humanitarian and trade supplies are being delivered by Israel to the more than 1.8 million residents of Gaza whose Hamas government fought a 50-day war against them this summer. The war cost the lives of a reported 2,000 Gazans, according to Hamas government figures, and 70 Israelis. Recent independent analysis of the Gazan dead suggests that as many as half were terrorist combatants.<\/p>\n
The success of Israel\u2019s controversial West Bank separation barrier in lowering suicide attacks on the Jewish state by as much as 90 percent, appears to have not gone unnoticed by Egypt which is now facing a comparable problem from Gaza-based Palestinian terrorists. Egypt appears to be weighing a similar solution, although some regional experts believe there may be other alternatives.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure they are going to build a wall,\u201d Zvi Mazel, Israeli Ambassador to Egypt from 1996-2001, told FoxNews.com. \u201cI understand [Egypt] would like to create a buffer zone where there are no houses and no vegetation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mazel noted that to do so, Egypt would have to expel 100,000 Bedouins from northern Sinai to establish such a zone.<\/p>\n
Mazel believes the \u201cforeign powers\u201d Al Sisi referred to as fomenting attacks launched from Gaza and funding terror operations in Sinai are Qatar, Turkey and Iran.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knows better than anyone else who is responsible for encouraging these terrorists,\u201d Mazel said. \u201cThe terrorists in Sinai constitute the threat, but someone is giving them money, and the money has most likely come from those countries.\u201d<\/p>\n
{{AP}}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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