The Gaza Exodus to Egypt

Palestinians make their way to Egypt after Palestinian gunmen blew up a section of the border wall between the Gaza Strip and Egypt January 23, 2008. (REUTERS/Mohammed Salem).

From “An Interview with Ambassador John Bolton” in the Winter 2007 issue of inFocus:

Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice is saying that, now more than ever, we need a Palestinian state. I think this is pursuing an illusion. But that is the direction we are going in. We are pressing ahead for an Annapolis conference. And the Europeans are more than willing to follow. What we should be doing is analyzing alternatives to the two-state solution.

I don’t see a Palestinian entity capable of making and carrying through on commitments. I’d like to see Jordan assume greater responsibility over the West Bank and Egypt over Gaza, which they once governed . . . . Let’s be realistic, I think the Palestinians would have better lives as citizens of Egypt instead of pursuing the notion of a Palestinian state. They’d have a better economic and political life.

From “A Farewell to Gaza,” an editorial in today’s New York Sun:

Israeli and American officials were in high dudgeon yesterday over the decision by Egypt to allow tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of Arabs to cross from the Gaza strip into Egypt proper. . . .

Well, let us suggest that what some see as a problem to be concerned about may also be an opportunity to be seized on, because it could be a first step in getting the world to perceive that many of the residents of Gaza are Egyptians rather than Palestinians. They’d rather be in Egypt than in Gaza, as they showed by voting with their feet these past days. They speak Egyptian Arabic. They have closer family ties to Egypt than they do to the West Bank, where many of them have never even visited.

Rather than forcing the Gazan Arabs to join with the West Bank Arabs into a state of "Palestine" that has never before existed and has few of the elements of a successful nation-state, why not let Gaza revert to its pre-1967 status as part of Egypt?

From “Good News in Gaza” by Noah Pollak in Contentions yesterday:

What we have seen is a subtle and consistent attempt from the Egyptians not just to avoid having Gaza become their problem, but to ensure that the radical energies emanating from Gaza would always be sent in one direction: Israel.

. . . But today, Hamas just blew the border fence down. Suddenly, some of the pressure that has built up in Gaza over the past several months has been released, and it didn’t go toward Israel — it went into Egypt, and now the Egyptians are faced with a calamitous situation.

Egypt has been hoisted with its own petard, and it is really quite enjoyable to see from a strategic perspective. Hamas probably blew up the border fence with explosives that Egypt allowed it to smuggle into Gaza.

From now on, let Egypt provide Gaza with electricity.

For more on this, see Anne Lieberman’s excellent post and JLichty’s great comment on it.