Posted on 01/29/2008 10:53:56 AM PST by mojito
What if Gaza were to conquer Egypt? The possibility is not as remote as it may seem just by glancing at the map.
Egypt has more than 50 times the population of its former colony and 2,800 times the landmass. But Gaza is sovereign Hamas territory, Hamas is the Palestinian branch of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, and Egypt -- not Israel -- is the country that has most to fear from a statelet that is at once the toehold, sanctuary and springboard of an Islamist revolution.
No wonder liberal Egyptians are reacting with near-hysterical alarm to last Wednesday's demolition of the border fence between the Gaza Strip and the Sinai. The Brotherhood organized at least 70 demonstrations throughout Egypt early last week to protest Israel's economic blockade of the Strip, itself a reaction to Hamas's rocket barrages into Israel. "Arm us, train us and send us to Gaza," chanted the demonstrators, along with "O rulers of Muslims, where is your honor, where is your religion?" The independent Egyptian daily Almasry Alyoum also described conversations between Hamas leader Khaled Mashal and Mohammed Mahdi Akef, the Brotherhood's Supreme Guide, to coordinate their activities. "We will take to the streets and defend our brothers in Gaza, even if we are all tried in military courts," Mr. Akef was reported as saying.
As Middle Eastern power plays go, Hamas's decision to dismantle the Gaza-Sinai border was a masterstroke. Gaza's economic woes are almost wholly self-inflicted, but they are real. Dynamiting and bulldozing the border of a neighboring country is legally an act of war, but it was made to seem like a humanitarian necessity and a bid for freedom. Flooding that neighbor with hundreds of thousands of desperate people is a massive economic burden on Egypt, but one that it shirks at its political peril.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
It is militarily impossible for Palestinians from Gaza to conquer Egypt. They could mount an insurgency and be a nuisance, but that’s about it.
Ping
Gaza might overrun and conquer Egypt, but how would Egypt know?
But, but . . . I thought we were just about ready to create Palestine (with Gaza)?
And that as soon as that is done, all members of Hamas, Fatah, etc. will become peaceful and loving neighbors?
Can Condi be wrong about that?
Gaza is a tiny place. A Merkava could drive across it in ten minutes the long way. Egypt should take it back, it was theirs to begin with.
Thanks for the ping. That Hamas might conquor Egypt isn’t likely. That Hamas might exert defacto control over the Sinai, or at least a portion of it as Hizbollah in Lebanon, that’s a distinct possibility. al Qaida is said to be active there, Egypt is walling off Sharm El-Sheikh to keep the terrorists out.
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I get what the guy is saying about the possibility of alliance between Hamas and the Brotherhood, but that’s distant speculation. Who knows how many variables would have to fall into place for that to happen. I don’t think the Sinai thing is an immediate possibility either. But Egypt will need a strong ruler succeeding Mubarak in order to prevent mayhem.
Yassir Arafat was born an Egyptian and died a terrorist. When Egypt was sending their garbage over to Isreal to deal with, no one seemed to care. Now after 40 years of this crap, the pendulum is swinging back. Hopefully Isreal will regrow it's spine and actually force this issue further.
A consummation greatly to be desired. No Arabic nation can stand the Palestinians close up, and even the most dedicated Egyptian will get a pant load full of the Palies in record time.
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