Gaza Latest: Is Egypt Going to Make a Stand Against Israel? (Yenidunya)

Israel's "Gaza" and Egypt's Manoeuvres: Israeli officials have stated their concerns over a confrontation with a Gaza-bound Iranian ship if Egypt does not prevent the ship from passing through the Suez Canal.

Egyptian official Mohammad Abdelwahab responded that the ship would not be halted.

The immediate explanation? Egyptian authorities do want to carry the main responsibility for halting aid to Gaza, especially following the passage of  12 United Stateswarships and at least one Israeli ship from the Suez Canal towards the Red Sea on last Friday.

Gaza Latest: Israel Warns Iranian & Lebanese Flotillas; UN Calls for Lifting of Blockade

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Wednesday accused Israel of trying to make Egypt carry the blame for the situation in Gaza. He said: "We reject attempts by Israel, the occupying force, to free itself of responsibility towards the strip and place it on Egypt."

There may be another reason for Cairo to give such a direct response to West Jerusalem. Last week, Hamas said that it would only accept the Egyptian initiative for Palestinian reconciliatoin if Cairo agreed to some changes. Egypt may be reading that statement not as defiance but as willingness of Hamas willing to negotiate over its relations with the rival party Fath.

There is a bigger question, however. Egypt's current manoeuvres follow years of acceptance of, even cooperation with, Israel's unwillingness to improve the situation of Gazans by lifting the economic siege. After all, it was not only Israeli crossings that were closed or restricted; there is also Egypt's border with Gaza at Rafah.

Is Mubarak really going to say now, "We are exerting all efforts to lift the Israeli blockade on Gaza"?

Comments

[Baz]

Israel - occupying force ( assumedly occupying Gaza??) ??? I would say they are a "besieging" force - but not occupying.

Barry

[Catherine]

Did you know that..... waging aggressive wars has become a prosecutable crime in international law?

For the first time in the war stricken story of mankind, waging aggressive wars has become a prosecutable crime in international law and given precise meaning and teeth before the ICC - this on the strength of an unexpected consensus reached between member states of the Court (or in ICC terminology 'states parties').

The conference in Kampala concluded with the adoption of a resolution that at last defined the crime of aggression listed in Article 5 of the Rome Statute - the Court's founding treaty - using the UN General Assembly Resolution 3314 (XXIX) as a guide.

The resolution, in effect, criminalises the use of force (for example: blockades, invasions, bombardments) against another country in violation of the Charter of the United Nations; giving the Court the power to try future political and military leaders who plan, prepare, initiate or execute illegal wars, and to hold them (individually) criminally responsible for the commission of this new, and long-overdue, international crime.
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