Gentelman
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Nov 21, 2012
- Messages
- 2,307
- Reaction score
- 1
- Country
- Location
First of all, let us congratulate the
people of Gaza on a victory that
demonstrated their perseverance in the
face of such atrocious enemy and that
made the entire Arab and Muslim world
proud.
Second, this victory together with the
changes that took place in the region
and especially in Egypt renders it
necessary to look into the possibility of
annexing Gaza to Egypt. In my point of
view, this is the ideal way of stopping
Israeli aggression against the strip. In
addition, Gaza was governed by Egypt
from 1948 till 1967, when Israel occupied
both Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula.
After the war, Egypt kept demanding the
liberation of its occupied territories, by
which it meant Sinai and the Gaza Strip.
This demand lasted for years until late
President Anwar Sadat gave up Gaza in
the Camp David treaty and left the
Palestinians to negotiate it return.
Sadat made a mistake when he
abandoned a territory that had for
decades been under Egyptian rule. This
mistake was, however, a personal
choice on the part of Sadat and was only
approved by his aides. The Egyptian
people, on the other hand, did not
approve of a treaty that would isolate
Gaza. After all, Sadat neither consulted
the parliament nor cared about his
peoples opinion.
The annexation of Gaza to Egypt will not
be in violation of peace treaties or the
Arab initiative, but will rather be the
only outlet for Gazans who will then be
under Egypts protection. Egypt will also
benefit from this arrangement since it
will be spared the repercussions of the
constant conflict between Gaza and
Israel and which has always had a
negative impact on its economy and
national security and has always placed
it in an awkward situation before
foreign powers that insist Egypt is
responsible for guarding its borders with
Gaza.
In addition, neither the United States nor
Israel would object to the annexation
and the same applies to the United
Nations, since this is a domestic matter
and the people of Gaza have the right to
self-determination. In fact, Israel would
like to see this happen to get rid of the
threat posed by militias in the strip and
to guarantee that no further attacks will
be launched from there.
There is also a geographical factor
involved. It is almost impossible for
Gaza and the West Bank to be united
when they are separated by Israeli land
in the middle. How then can they form
one homeland? Would Israel open its
borders for Palestinians to move freely
from Gaza to the West Bank and vice
versa? Or will a 57-kilometer long
tunnel be dug between both, as Israeli
Defense Minister Ehud Barack once
proposed? Or do we expect the Israeli
authorities to give Palestinians land that
connects Gaza to the West Bank? It is,
therefore, extremely far-fetched to
create a unified territory of two lands
separated by more than 60 kilometers.
The annexation will also not affect the
Palestinian national project in any
negative. On the contrary, it will make
negotiations easier since after the
liberation of Gaza the focus will be on
the West Bank and the Golan Heights.
Freedom fighters liberated Gaza and
removed Israeli settlements and now
they conquered Israel and claimed full
control on the strip. It is now high time
to concentrate on the West Bank, which
the Arab world has for long neglected in
favor of Gaza. This is what Israel
actually wants: to distract Arabs with
Gaza so that it can expand its
settlements, annex more West Bank
land, and go ahead with the Judaization
of Jerusalem.
Finally, Egypt will never be able to have
the peace of mind that will enable it to
embark on economic reform and
launch development projects as long as
the Gaza headache persists. This
headache will only go away if the
annexation takes place. In this case,
instead of arguments about whether the
Rafah crossing should be opened,
borders between Egypt and the strip
would be removed and Egyptian
schools, universities, and hospitals will
be open to Gazans who instead of living
in an eternal prison would be able to
cross freely to the land of freedom and
justice, the land of revolution and
dignity.
(Saudi columnist Ibrahim Al Majari
writes on regional politics and current
affairs. This article was first published
in the Saudi daily Al-Sharq.)
www.english.alarabiya.net/views/2012/12/24/256758.html
people of Gaza on a victory that
demonstrated their perseverance in the
face of such atrocious enemy and that
made the entire Arab and Muslim world
proud.
Second, this victory together with the
changes that took place in the region
and especially in Egypt renders it
necessary to look into the possibility of
annexing Gaza to Egypt. In my point of
view, this is the ideal way of stopping
Israeli aggression against the strip. In
addition, Gaza was governed by Egypt
from 1948 till 1967, when Israel occupied
both Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula.
After the war, Egypt kept demanding the
liberation of its occupied territories, by
which it meant Sinai and the Gaza Strip.
This demand lasted for years until late
President Anwar Sadat gave up Gaza in
the Camp David treaty and left the
Palestinians to negotiate it return.
Sadat made a mistake when he
abandoned a territory that had for
decades been under Egyptian rule. This
mistake was, however, a personal
choice on the part of Sadat and was only
approved by his aides. The Egyptian
people, on the other hand, did not
approve of a treaty that would isolate
Gaza. After all, Sadat neither consulted
the parliament nor cared about his
peoples opinion.
The annexation of Gaza to Egypt will not
be in violation of peace treaties or the
Arab initiative, but will rather be the
only outlet for Gazans who will then be
under Egypts protection. Egypt will also
benefit from this arrangement since it
will be spared the repercussions of the
constant conflict between Gaza and
Israel and which has always had a
negative impact on its economy and
national security and has always placed
it in an awkward situation before
foreign powers that insist Egypt is
responsible for guarding its borders with
Gaza.
In addition, neither the United States nor
Israel would object to the annexation
and the same applies to the United
Nations, since this is a domestic matter
and the people of Gaza have the right to
self-determination. In fact, Israel would
like to see this happen to get rid of the
threat posed by militias in the strip and
to guarantee that no further attacks will
be launched from there.
There is also a geographical factor
involved. It is almost impossible for
Gaza and the West Bank to be united
when they are separated by Israeli land
in the middle. How then can they form
one homeland? Would Israel open its
borders for Palestinians to move freely
from Gaza to the West Bank and vice
versa? Or will a 57-kilometer long
tunnel be dug between both, as Israeli
Defense Minister Ehud Barack once
proposed? Or do we expect the Israeli
authorities to give Palestinians land that
connects Gaza to the West Bank? It is,
therefore, extremely far-fetched to
create a unified territory of two lands
separated by more than 60 kilometers.
The annexation will also not affect the
Palestinian national project in any
negative. On the contrary, it will make
negotiations easier since after the
liberation of Gaza the focus will be on
the West Bank and the Golan Heights.
Freedom fighters liberated Gaza and
removed Israeli settlements and now
they conquered Israel and claimed full
control on the strip. It is now high time
to concentrate on the West Bank, which
the Arab world has for long neglected in
favor of Gaza. This is what Israel
actually wants: to distract Arabs with
Gaza so that it can expand its
settlements, annex more West Bank
land, and go ahead with the Judaization
of Jerusalem.
Finally, Egypt will never be able to have
the peace of mind that will enable it to
embark on economic reform and
launch development projects as long as
the Gaza headache persists. This
headache will only go away if the
annexation takes place. In this case,
instead of arguments about whether the
Rafah crossing should be opened,
borders between Egypt and the strip
would be removed and Egyptian
schools, universities, and hospitals will
be open to Gazans who instead of living
in an eternal prison would be able to
cross freely to the land of freedom and
justice, the land of revolution and
dignity.
(Saudi columnist Ibrahim Al Majari
writes on regional politics and current
affairs. This article was first published
in the Saudi daily Al-Sharq.)
www.english.alarabiya.net/views/2012/12/24/256758.html
